Birds And Spiders
by Nightwolv
Summary: Kaine the now cured clone of Spider-man has taken up the mantle of the Scarlet Spider. What happens when he is unwillingly placed in the DC universe and comes into contact with a certain group? May be rated M later
1. Unbalanced

_"There is no balance!" _

_"What the?_" the man shot up in bed at the sound of the voice and looked round the room for its source. Kaine was no stranger to voices in his head, when he had been 'born' in the Jackals lab and the cellular degeneration had set in, it was basically all he heard but since the event the press had dubbed spider-island, his disease had ceased and he was now a fully functional human.

The fact he looked exactly like Peter Parker was a slight problem so to distance himself he shaved his hair, not bald but very short and he'd also let his facial hair grow slightly until he had stubble lining his mouth and under his chin. Kaine had spent most of his life hating Parker for what he'd put him through although deep down he knew it wasn't really Peter's fault. He hadn't walked up to that maniac Miles Warren and asked "Hey would you mind making a psychotic clone of myself." Since the events of spider-island he had decided to get as far away from New York as possible and was on his way to Huston in Texas. He'd stopped briefly in North Carolina to switch bus's and thwarted a robbery that happened to be taking place although he had been brutal to the robbers in question at least he hadn't killed any of them and that was a step forward. Kaine had checked into a small hotel on the outskirts of Charlotte to wait for the bus to Huston the next day he thought no one would know who he was here let alone track him down to this hotel. Obviously he was wrong.

_"Who's there?"_ he growled getting out of the bed, quickly scanning the room with his enhanced eyesight.

_"Calm down Kaine I'm not here to harm you"_ came a warm voice. It was then Kaine recognized it.

_"Julia?"_ he questioned lowering his guard slightly.

Madame Webb stepped out of the shadows looking at him curiously. She had been interested in this man ever since she'd seen him kill the Queen. In her vision it had been Peter who had killed her and she was shocked when this man had been the one to do it. It was only afterwards she'd discovered this man was a clone of Peter Parker the original Spider-man or 'the centre of the web' as she sometimes called him. Although he was Peter's exact double physically his personality was a whole other matter. He was cold, calculating and ruthless but at least he was trying to better himself.

_"Why are you here?"_ Kaine asked as he pushed past her and pulled a drink out of the minibar.

_"The web is unbalanced"_ she replied watching as Kaine pulled the bottle cap of his drink.

_"That's just a synonym of what you said the first time"_ he growled before taking a gulp of larger._ "I don't know if Peter puts up with this mysterious bullshit but I'm not Peter so either get to the point or get out"_ he continued fixing her with a stern glare.

"_As you know I'm connected to the web. The thing that connects us all"_ she began.

_"Oh god not this crap again"_ Kaine replied sighing and sitting at the foot of the bed.

_"Every web in every reality has its own centre"_ Madame Webb continued ignoring Kaine. _"It's own Peter Parker if you prefer_" she said noticing the puzzled look on Kaine's face.

_"Ok, so?"_

_"In one of the other parallel reality's the balance has been broken and the centre doesn't exist."_

_"So? No offense Webb but I don't really care what happens in another dimension_" Kaine replied taking another gulp of beer.

_"Then let me try and make you care"_ she replied curtly, this man definitely was no Peter Parker. _"It's true that other centres of the web die in other realities all the time but this is different. Normally when one dies another is ready to take its place. In this reality there was never a centre for some abnormal reason"_ she continued.

_"Again Webb's I'm having trouble seeing how this concerns me"_ Kaine replied tossing the empty bottle into the trashcan.

_"The Web is what connects every one of us and although it is exceedingly hard to kill it can happen. If one of the Webs falls it will very quickly drag the others with it."_

_"By 'us' I guess you mean Spider-people"_ Kaine replied scoffing.

_"Believe what you want but this is very real and if we don't put a centre in quickly we will fall"_ Julia replied gravely.

_"Ok say I buy your story what exactly do you want me to do about it? I'm not exactly a reality changer. Anyway you said it yourself there was never a center so how come this has suddenly turned into a problem now?"_ Kaine asked lying back on the bed.

_"I want to send you to this reality to plug the hole and it is a problem now because before I had no contact with it. The Web is always getting bigger and it has expanded to this reality"_ she replied simply.

_"Whoa, whoa"_ Kaine began, shooting upright. _"You want to send me to some other dimension to save something I doubt even exists? Why not ask Parker? As you said he's a center I'm pretty sure he's a better candidate than me"_ he replied eyeing Madame Webb.

_"I cannot send Peter. If I could I wouldn't be here talking to you. He is this reality's center if I send him then the same problem that is in the other reality will occur here"_ she replied.

_"Wait so your telling me there isn't one person in the whole of that freaking dimension who can step up and become this center thing? Why don't you do it?"_ Kaine insisted.

_"I cannot. I merely keep the web intact. I cannot intervene in something like this as I'm not the centre and no, although there are other people bound to the web in this dimension, none of them are strong enough to become its center yet. That's where you come in."_

_"Foget it I'm not going to live in some fucked up reality simply to plug some imaginary hole"_ Kaine replied angrily.

_"It will not be permanent of course. It's just temporary as I said none of them are strong enough to be the centre yet. One of them is showing great promise but it would take to long for any of them to get the necessary strength and experience to take over"_ Julia replied exasperatedly.

_"Forget it I'm not some inter-dimensional plumber"_ Kaine snapped again.

_"I'm sorry but this is bigger than both of us and although I wanted to get your compliance I see that isn't going to happen"_ Madame Webb sighed waking up to Kaine and placing her hand on his forehead.

_"Wait what are you do…."_ Kaine began before he collapsed.

* * *

><p><em>"What the?"<em> Kaine shot up in bed sweat streaming down his face. _"Did I dream all that?"_ he mumbled putting his hand on his forehead. It was then he looked round the room he was in. "This isn't the room I was in last night" he thought getting up and looking round the clean bright room. _"That bitch"_ he growled as he pulled the curtains and realized he was no longer in North Carolina.

_"Webb if you can hear me you better get your fucking ass here and zap me back now!"_ he yelled furiously. "She's not coming back" he thought angrily to himself after he'd waited a few minutes. Looking round the room he spied his backpack. _"Time to put some clothes on then find Webb"_ he growled to himself as he pulled out a pair of jeans, a white T-shirt and a black jacket. He'd just finished dressing when he noticed something else at the bottom of the bag. The red lenses of his costume stared back at him.

He'd decided to keep Peter's stealth suit after he'd worn it during the whole Spider-Island fiasco but he hadn't really been keen on the whole black and blue colour scheme and he'd made a few modifications. The costume was now mainly red with a large black spider on the chest, a black mask and red eyepieces. For a minute he hesitated he wasn't sure whether he should put it on under his civvies in case he needed it. "Well if this is another dimension who knows what's out there" he thought as he quickly stripped down and pulled the suit on and putting his civvies back on over the top. He then walked out of the room.

_"Are you checking out sir?"_ the young girl at the counter asked him as he descended the stairs.

_"Yes, here's my key"_ Kaine said handing her the small metal object and walking towards the door. Then he stopped and turned back to the girl at the reception. _"I know this might seem like an odd question but where exactly am I?"_

The girl giggled slightly before replying_ "Rough night out?"_ She asked amused.

_"You have no idea"_ Kaine replied trying not to lose his patience.

_"You're at the hotel El Dorado near Trinity Place in West Gotham"_ the woman replied.

_"Thank's"_ Kaine muttered before turning back to the door and leaving without another word.

* * *

><p>Helena stared out of one of the many windows down at the harbour below. Since the Birds Of Prey had reformed their base of operations had changed to Kord Tower.<p>

_"Penny for your thoughts?"_

She turned as a red haired woman in a wheelchair approach a laptop perched on her knees.

_"It's nothing Oracle. It's been so calm recently I just feel a little up tight because of the lack of action"_ she replied.

_"I know what she means"_ Dinah piped up from her seat on the opposite side of the room. _"It's been unusually quiet recently its un-nerving."_

"_Maybe all the bad guys are on vacation?"_ Hawk suggested sarcastically as he flicked through the TV channels. The rest of the Birds rolled their eye's at the only male member of their team.

_"Doesn't look like you'll be bored much longer we've got a problem"_ Oracle said as she turned back to the computer screen.

_"What is it?"_ Helena asked peering to see the glowing pc screen.

_"I just intercepted a police call saying that a bank down town is getting attacked by some pretty heavy hitters. Give me a minute and I'll pull up the security camera's outside the bank"_ the red-head said as she began clicking away on the keyboard. _"Oh shit"_ she exclaimed as the screen brought up the security camera feed.

_"What is it?"_ Helena asked again, craning her neck to see the screen.

_"Isn't that Shiva?"_ Oracle asked turning the screen to face Huntress.

_"Shit"_ Helena cursed as she watched the dark haired Asian woman, surrounded by what must have been mercenaries enter the bank.

_"Well time to go to work"_ Hawk said getting up from his chair and stretching his neck. Helena pulled of her shirt to reveal the purple costume beneath and threw it to the floor.

_"It looks like she's got quite a few men and….Who the hell is that?"_

Huntress moved quickly to Oracles side and watched as a masked individual engaged Shiva's men.

* * *

><p><strong>A few moments <strong>**earlier**

"What a dump_"_ Kaine thought as he walked down the road. This place Gotham, wherever the hell it was looked like New York's ugly twin brother. Although it must have been about 2pm a mist hung in the air making it seem like it was about to go dark at any moment. He walked out into what seemed like a main road. Lots of people made their way down the street browsing the shop windows as they did so. Suddenly a booming noise echoed from down the street and people began to push past him hurrying away from whatever was going on. Curious, Kaine pushed past the people who ran into him as he made his way towards the commotion.

As he rounded a corner he saw a group of masked men run into a building. A woman stood outside with a few of the others. "Probably keeping watch for the police" Kaine thought as he watched the group. "Don't get involved it's not your problem" he told himself and was about to walk away when another explosion rang out sending debris flying in all directions. He watched in horror as a large chuck of brick and mortar flew towards the panicking crowd. Instinctively the Parker side of him took over and he shot a webline from each wrist catching the debris and pulling it to the ground. "I may not be Peter Parker and I may not be Spider-man but I'm no fucking monster. Not anymore" Kaine thought as he pulled the mask out of his jacket pocket. He didn't have time to take his civvies off and don the full suit so just the mask would have to do. Without any hesitation he launched himself at the men.

They barely had time to register they were under attack before Kaine landed on them in a flurry of blows. Kaine quickly dispatched two of them by grabbing the backs of their heads and slamming their faces into the pavement. Another turned round hurriedly, shocked by the speed and ferocity of the attack and turned his uzi towards Kaine but he wasn't quick enough. Kaine's arm shot out grabbing the man by the wrist before he could aim. The man cried out in pain and dropped the gun as Kaine applied pressure and felt the bones in the man's wrist shatter under his strength. He then quickly delivered a punch to the man's head before jumping backwards and flipping over in the air, aiming to land behind the last man who had begun to train his gun on him. The man pulled the trigger and the muzzle flashed as the automatic fire shot out. As he span through the air Kaine could see the bullets as the whizzed past him and adjusted his body accordingly to avoid any that came a bit too close for comfort. Landing behind the man he wrapped his arm around his neck and brought his other hand over the man's face. Using his spider-like ability to stick to walls he clung to the man's face then tore his hand away ripping a bloody hand print into the man's face.

A long time ago this had been known as the mark of Kaine, only used if he intended to kill the person but now it was simply a way of incapacitating someone. The man screamed and dropped to his knees clutching his bleeding face.

_"Impressive."_

Kaine turned his attention to the woman who was watching his performance with slight amusement. She was medium height, obviously of Asian descent and had long black hair. He straightened up and stared at her through the red lenses of his mask.

_"Your agility truly is impressive"_ the woman remarked _"your speed likewise but you seem to lack any form of training."_ Kaine didn't acknowledge her comments at all and jumped at her aiming a blow to her stomach. To his surprise she moved nimbly to one side and threw a jab towards his neck. Instinctively the buzzing in his head went off to let him know of the danger and in mid-air he grabbed her arm and as he landed he used the impact to throw her over his shoulder. The woman was taken by surprise at this and only just managed to land on her feet.

_"It seems I was mistaken you combat reflexes are not as bad as I thought"_ she said eyeing him.

"Not really but thanks to my spider-sense I know what you're about to do before you do it" Kaine thought. He could see by the way she was looking at him now that she was treating him as an actual threat.

This time the woman went on the offensive spinning on her left foot and aiming a roundhouse kick towards his head. Ducking quickly under the blow Kaine brought his fist up attempting to uppercut her. She quickly brought her arm round to push his blow to the side. Unfortunately she hadn't counted on his super-human strength. She was able to soften the blow but Kaine still heard a crack as his fist came into contact with her jaw and she stumbled back. Not giving her time to recover he leapt over her. One of his stingers snapped out of his wrist and he stabbed the woman in the left shoulder. She cried out as the spear-like object penetrated her skin and spun round lashing out but the blow was clumsy the venom already taking effect and Kaine easily dodged it.

_"What did you do?"_ the woman asked shaking her head trying to stop the swimming sensation being caused by the venom before throwing another punch. Kaine caught her fist in his and pushed forward snapping her wrist back and breaking the ligaments. The woman cried out briefly then passed out as the venom took complete effect. The stinger retracted and Kaine quickly made his way inside the bank to take care of the rest of them.

* * *

><p><strong>Note:<strong> I just sat down and thought up the most random DC/Marvel cross-over I could and this is what sprang to mind. I know Kaine doesn't have a spider-sense anymore but I decided to let him keep it.


	2. Self Control

**Kord Tower**

_"Damn"_ Dinah said watching wide eyed as the man snapped Shiva's wrist and threw her to the floor.

_"Who the hell is that?"_ Huntress asked trying to recognize his movements.

_"Nightwing with a change of clothes perhaps"_ Dove suggested remembering the display of agility.

_"No, his movements are all wrong_" Oracle said looking at the screen. She'd trained with Bruce Wayne, the Batman and she would know his handiwork anywhere so it wasn't him or Grayson. It couldn't be. This man's movements were to ferocious. Each blow aimed to deal maximum damage, not to mention his agility was incredible. It wasn't that Batman's wasn't but he was only human and the way this man was moving would be impossible for a normal human to achieve. He must be a meta-human at least.

_"Well what do we do now?"_ Hawk asked looking at the screen. _"There's no point in us going there now that, that guy has taken care of the problem."_

_"We have no idea who this guy is. Just because he attacked them doesn't make him one of the good-guys"_ Huntress said making her way towards the exit. _"So I say we go ask him."_

* * *

><p><strong>A Few Minutes Later At The Bank<strong>

Kaine was making his way towards the exit. The other few men had proven little challenge. He'd beaten them down before they realised he was there. As he neared the glass double doors his spider-sense went off and he quickly flushed himself to the left of the twin doors and peered round. Multiple figures were heading quickly in his direction.

"Even in a different dimension super-villains still wear crappy uniforms" Kaine said to himself as he watched the group stop a few yards away. "They must be thinking up an attack plan" he thought as he watched them confer. This wasn't good. He was outnumbered and he didn't know who these people where or what they could do. Quickly he pulled off his civvies to reveal the full red and black suit. He quickly stuffed his clothes into his backpack and engaged the suits cloaking ability. The element of surprise would be crucial.

The five Birds stopped a few feet from the bank.

_"Ok we need to try and show this guy we aren't a threat"_ Dinah said looking at the building.

_"Better leave Helena here then"_ Hawk snickered. Huntress glared at him and turned her attention back to the building.

_"Perhaps we should try calling out?"_ Dove suggested.

_"I don't even know what we're doing here"_ Hawk groaned_ "I mean the guy just did our job for us why don't we leave him be?_"

_"I already told you we don't know anything about this guy or his motives. For all we know he could be robbing that bank as we speak"_ Helena replied, still staring intently on the door looking for any sign of movement.

_"Ok so how do we go about getting to this guy then?"_ Blackhawk asked. Unfortunately as Kaine drew closer this was the only part of the conversation he heard and he instantly leapt into action deactivating the invisibility and driving his fist into the only male member of the team.

_"What the?"_ Huntress cried jumping back in surprise as Kaine materialized in front of them. Not waiting to see how the others would react Kaine grabbed the closest one who happened to be Dinah and using his superhuman strength locked her arm behind her back, extended a stinger from his free arm and placed the tip under the woman's chin.

_"Any of you so much as move and this goes through her head"_ he growled pressing the stinger a little harder to Dinah's neck to prove he wasn't kidding."He's strong" Dinah thought as she tried to wrench herself free but found Kaine's grip as hard as steel. The bird's where still taken aback by the speed of his attack.

_"Look we're not here to hurt you"_ Dove replied raising her hands in compliance.

_"Your boss would probably say otherwise"_ Kaine said, still not releasing Dinah and making a small head gesture towards Shiva who was still passed out on the floor.

_"We don't work for her we're the good guys"_ Lady Blackhawk said before Dove could reply.

"Looks like I got the wrong end of the stick" Kaine thought as he realized these where the hero's not the villains. _"Where were you 10 minutes ago? Late isn't always better than never"_ he growled releasing Black Canary but still eyeing them suspiciously. He still wasn't completely convinced they were who they said they were.

_"We were on our way but you got here first"_ Black Canary replied, rubbing her wrist.

_"Well that wouldn't have saved those civilians!"_ Kaine growled again, gesturing to the debris currently suspended by his webline.

_"Hey, who do you think you are telling us how to do our job!"_ Helena snapped _"we've been doing this longer than you."_

_"I doubt that"_ Kaine muttered under his breath turning away.

_"Where do you think you're going?"_ Huntress snapped as she watched him turn to leave.

_"T__here's 5 of you. Well 4 of you"_ he continued as he looked at Hawks unconscious form. _"and all the bad guys are unconscious. I think you can handle that"_ Kaine finished, preparing to shoot a web-line, a slight note of condescension in his voice.

_"No! You're not leaving we haven't finished with you yet"_ Helena said grabbing his arm, to her surprise he was much more muscular than he looked.

_"Yes you have"_ Kaine growled grabbing her hand and tearing it from his arm violently.

_"Huntress is a little highly strung but she means well"_ Dinah said stepping in before another fight broke out. _"We just wanted to help but you seem pretty capable"_ she continued trying to smooth things over.

_"You're obviously new at this. Someone with your abilities wouldn't have flown under the radar for long. If you need any help meet us here"_ the blond said handing Kaine a small piece of paper with Kord Towers address on it.

Kaine hesitated for a minute but then reached out and took the card. "I don't know anyone here it might be useful to have some kind of contacts" he thought turning the piece of paper over in his hands.

_"I don't think I'll take you up on it but thanks anyway. Oh and sorry about your friend"_ Kaine replied looking at Hawk who Dove was currently bending over worriedly. Luckily he had decided to pull his punch at the last minute had he not, he realized now he probably would have taken the man's head off.

_"Is he gonna be ok? What did you do to him?"_ Dove asked, pulling up one of his eyelids up to look at her friend's pupil.

_"I punched him"_ Kaine replied simply. Huntress raised an eyebrow she'd seen Hawk take blows from other villains but she'd never seen anyone fell him in one hit. Before she could say another word Kaine leapt into the air, shot a webline and swung off.

_"Well there's something I've never seen before"_ Dinah commented as she watched the Scarlet Spider swing away at break neck speed.

_"That's definitely a new one on me too"_ Blackhawk agreed.

_"I don't trust him"_ Huntress growled watching his retreating form.

_"Didn't stop you from ogling him though did it?"_ Blackhawk said snickering slightly. Helena shot her a venomous glare.

_"I don't know what you're trying to insinuate Zinda"_ she replied glaring at the blond. Dinah and Dove both chuckled slightly.

_"What happened?"_ Hawk said finally stirring. _"Feels like someone hit me with a sledgehammer"_ he continued placing his hand on his forehead and rubbing to numb the pain.

_"C'mon lets get back to Kord before Oracle starts freaking out"_ Dinah said pulling Hawk to his feet.

_"Or before Huntress starts chasing after her new-boyfriend. Going from a Cat to a Spider isn't that the opposite of progress?"_ Blackhawk said smiling and dodging a small swipe from Helena.

_"Can someone please fill me in on what happened?"_ Hawk asked again, as he began to follow Black Canary.

* * *

><p><strong>A Few Blocks Away<strong>

As soon as he was far enough away Kaine changed into his civilian clothes and recommenced his exploration of the city. After a few hours he was starting to get even more angry and frustrated than he already was. As he walked down an alley Kaine punched the wall to the right of him in frustration causing a few of the bricks to shatter. "God I just need to vent" he thought as he walked out the other end of the alley. Anything would do. He just needed some kind of outlet for his frustration.

It was starting to get dark now and as he turned a corner he heard the tell-tale thumping of bass music being played and saw flashing lights radiating from what must have been some sort of nightclub. Normally the thought wouldn't have crossed his mind but he needed a drink, something to calm him down and this place was the closest. As he walked in the full volume of the music hit him. With his enhanced sense of sight and hearing it gave him an instantaneous headache.

_"What can I get you sir?"_ the young man asked enthusiastically as Kaine approached the bar.

_"The strongest drink you've got"_ Kaine replied still down on a stool.

_"Ouch, work trouble?"_ the man asked, as he bent down to pull some bottles from under the counter.

_"Something like that"_ Kaine replied, watching the man as pulled the cap off one of the bottles. Kaine took the drink and downed it. _"Another"_ he said, handing the empty glass back to the barkeeper.

_"Wow, are you sure? These things are pretty strong mate"_ the bartender replied.

_"Don't worry about it just hit me with another"_ Kaine replied. Thanks to his inhuman metabolism it took a lot of alcohol to get him tipsy let alone drunk. He took the new glass and drank it, completely unaware that he was being watched.

_"Well? Do you think that's him?"_ the dark haired man asked looking at his partner.

_"It must be"_ his partner replied fixing her gaze on Kaine.

_"I'm not sure this is such a good idea Rose"_ the man said following her gaze. Ravager turned her head back to Kid Devil. Her friend was wearing an image inducer as his real form was quite un-nerving for the general public. She was also disguised, she had a glass eye in her right side as most people would have heard of the one eyed daughter of Deathstroke and it was always best to stay inconspicuous.

_"Look we know that guy behind the bar is part of the drugs trade. He's been supplying the streets for months and this is the only guy we've seen him talk to for more than a minute. He's got to be the contact"_ Rose continued. It had been 3 years since she'd joined the Titans having broken her father's hold on her although they still called themselves the Teen Titans most of them where in their 20's now. She took another look at the man, she'd seen enough shady people in her time to recognize one when she saw one.

The Titans had split up all over the surrounding area each taking a different bar or nightclub trying to find the contact but as nearly every bar seemed to have some kind of shady dealing going on it was quite difficult to pick out who it might have been.

_"Ok so how do we get to this guy in middle of a crowded nightclub?"_ Eddie asked also looking at Kaine. Rose thought about this for a moment.

_"Don't worry"_ she said getting up from her seat. _"I'll just try to 'convince' him to leave with me"_ Rose finished, giving Devil a small wink.

_"So what kind of work are you in?"_ the barman asked.

_"Shipping. Moving merchandise import and export"_ Kaine lied. Unfortunately for him, Rose only caught the end of that sentence as she approached.

"Moving merchandise? Looks like I've found my guy" she thought as she sat next to Kaine. _"Hi"_ she said looking at Kaine and giving him a flirtatious glance.

Kaine turned his head and was greeted by a tall, attractive, athletic woman, a little younger than him, with long platinum hair and bright blue eyes. Although she was very beautiful he was too frustrated to have any other thoughts in his head apart from finding Webb and giving her a good piece of his mind.

_"Hi"_ he replied, simply acknowledging her before returning to his drink. Seeing that she was getting the cold shoulder surprised Ravager."This is going to be harder than I thought" she said to herself. Rose took another look at the man. He wasn't the classic dirt-bag dealer she was used to dealing with. In fact he was completely different. If she hadn't have heard the end of the conversation she would have been second guessing herself now. He had short brown hair, dark stubble lined his mouth and was quite good looking. She shook her head, it didn't matter what she thought he was the bad guy she was the good guy, end of story. Rose tried again.

_"I haven't seen you in here before. You new?"_ she asked giving him a small smile. It was as Kaine turned back to face her that she saw his eye's. They were a piercing brown colour but the thing that threw her off was the darkness that seemed to lie behind them.

_"Listen lady don't take this the wrong way but I'm not interested"_ he replied.

_"Why not? I'm not your type?"_ Rose asked leaning against the bar counter and fixing him with a suggestive stare.

_"I'm just not in the mood right now"_ Kaine replied returning to his drink.

_"C'mon why don't you at least give me a chance"_ Ravager said raising an eyebrow. Whether it was the alcohol finally taking effect or his own frustration causing him to lower his guard.

_"Fine"_ he replied holding out his hand. _"Peter" _he didn't want to give her his name although technically that was his real name.

_"Rose"_ the woman replied as she shook his hand. It didn't seem much use for her to use a pseudonym as he would most likely be dead before the end of the night if she had her way.

_"Why don't we go someplace quieter"_ Rose said looking at him suggestively.

"Shes not going to give up is she?" Kaine thought looking at her. He had a bad feeling about her as if something wasn't quite right but as she took his hand, he followed her out of the nightclub throwing a few notes to the bartender as she pulled him. Rose turned her head briefly to glance at Devil so he would understand she wanted him to follow.

_"Where are we going?"_ Kaine asked suspiciously as they turned a corner.

_"Oh just to a little hotel I'm staying at"_ she replied coyly.

* * *

><p><strong>A Few Minutes Later<strong>

"What am I doing here?" Kaine thought as the woman showed him into her hotel room. "This is a waste of time. I don't need this right now. I have to find Webb."

_"Look I…"_ he began but he was cut off as Ravager pressed her lips pressed against his.

"I've got to stop this before it gets any further" Kaine thought attempting to push her away gently but Rose ignored his protest and deepened the kiss. Kaine took a few steps back trying again to break away but Ravager was having none of it. She had him right where she wanted him. Rose moved forward with him and as the back of his legs hit the bed she pushed forcefully causing him to topple onto the bed. As Kaine sat upright Rose got onto his lap locking her legs around his waist and with a lightning fast movement grabbed his shirt and pulled it off roughly. Luckily Kaine had put his costume in his backpack when he had decided to get changed and wasn't wearing it under his clothes anymore or that could have been very awkward.

_"Listen I…"_ Kaine began as Rose tossed his shirt to the floor and pushed him back onto his back. _"Ok, look I can't"_ Kaine said exasperatedly watching as Rose snaked her way over him keeping her eye locked on his, her hand tracing down the ridges of his chest.

_"Why?"_ Rose asked giving him a playful glance as she began placing small kisses on his chest and making her way up to his chin. Kaine breathed in sharply and closed his eye's. "God she's making this difficult" he thought as Ravager pulled her shirt off and threw it to the floor revealing a red brazier. He tried to sit back up.

_"Why are you fighting this?"_ she asked smiling as Kaine tried to push her off again. _"We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Either way I'm going to get what I want"_ she continued flushing herself against him, pressing her lips against his and running her hand through his short hair. "Ok enough fun down to business" she thought stretching her left hand down her upper leg.

Just as Kaine had decided perhaps letting her have her way wouldn't be such a bad thing his spider-sense went haywire. His hand shot out and he grabbed her wrist as she began to unsheathe a knife strapped to her leg. Her eyes shot open as she felt his hand grab hers and she broke the kiss bringing her other arm round to try and strike him in the neck. To her surprised he pushed her off with enormous force, something she hadn't expected.

_"Who the hell are you?"_ Kaine growled getting to his feet and looking at the assassin. Ravager didn't answer but lunged forward with the knife. Kaine dodged it effortlessly. Rage was currently flowing through him in torrents. He didn't like being played. The Jackal had been the first one to truly use him and he swore he would never let anyone manipulate him again. Kaine's hand shot out, grabbing her by the neck and lifting her off the ground he slammed her into the wall.

"Shit" Rose thought as she realized she had severely under-estimated her opponent. She hadn't considered the fact he may have had any form of training let alone reflexes and strength like that. Suddenly Kid Devil bust into the room. Kaine's head snapped round. Devil didn't wait for a second and instantly engaged Kaine seeing that his friend was struggling against his grip. As he lunged forward Kaine pulled Ravager away from the wall and tossed her at Eddie. They collided with a cracking sound and both got gingerly to their feet.

_"I'm going to ask you one more time. Who the hell are you?"_ Kaine snarled his stingers erupting from his wrists.

"Well that's a new one" Devil thought as he looked at the long knife like objects protruding from Kaines arms. Ravager upon seeing them realized how lucky she'd been. "If he'd have used those earlier I'd probably be dead" she thought and mentally scolded herself. She didn't know anything about this guy. Why had she been so reckless?

When neither of them replied Kaine flew into action. Leaping between the two he slammed his elbow into Devils head and spun on his heel kicking Ravager straight in the stomach. How he managed to pull those blows during his blind rage he didn't know but somehow he managed it. He was actually a little surprised at himself. It showed he was starting to get better control over himself. As the two strangers stumbled back stunned he quickly grabbed his backpack off the floor where he'd placed it and ran out of the room as fast as he could. The two Titans got to their feet shakily and began to give chase but it wasn't easy, Kaine had hit them pretty hard.

_"He hits like a hammer"_ Devil said as he shook his head to try and get rid of the dizziness and ringing in his ears. Ravager remained silent as she pulled her shirt back on. "He's not human" she thought as she remembered his strength and speed. She'd studied so many martial arts and gymnastics. Rose knew the movement he had just made would have been neigh impossible for a human athlete at that speed.

As Kaine ran out of the building he quickly ran down an alley and scaled the wall until he was obscured by the darkness. He watched as Ravager and Devil appeared a few moments later.

_"I'm sure I saw him heading this way."_

Although it was a whisper thanks to his enhanced hearing he could hear her as if she was standing right next to him.

_"Let's just leave it"_ Kid Devil said looking down the dark alley. _"I don't even know if we could take him on alone anyway"_ he finished. Although she didn't like to admit it, Ravager agreed with him. They couldn't go up against someone they didn't know anything about.

As soon as Kaine was sure they'd left he pulled his costume out of his backpack and put it on.

* * *

><p><strong>Note:<strong> Well i'd noticed Ravager has a habit of using seduction to get the job done so I thought i'd have some fun with it and it will become relevant in later chapters.


	3. Trust Issues

"What the fuck was that all about?" Kaine thought as he swung through Gotham he still couldn't understand why those people had attacked him. It was pitch black now but due to his night-vision it still looked like mid-day.

_"Well, well you've only been here a few hours and already you stopped a bank robbery and saved some civilians."_ The voice resonated in his head and Kaine recognized it instantly.

_"Webb!"_ he shouted letting go of his webline and landing gracefully on the side of a building. _"Take me back right now!"_ he snarled looking around trying to spot her.

_"I'm nowhere near you Kaine"_ she replied. _"Your link to the web allows me to communicate with you"_ Webb explained.

_"Does it look like I give a fuck! Just send me back NOW!"_ Kaine growled again.

_ "Why? You wanted a fresh start didn't you? A chance to get past all the atrocities committed against you and by you in the past. What better place to start than a place where no one even knows you exist?"_ Julia replied attempting to reason with him.

_"I didn't mean a whole new freaking dimension though. I meant just moving a few states"_ Kaine replied exasperatedly.

_"You're here for a purpose and until that purpose is fulfilled I won't send you back"_ she replied firmly.

_"What the hell am I supposed to do anyway? I've got hardly any money and I have no idea where I am"_ Kaine replied, elbowing the wall in frustration causing the bricks to crumble and the mortar to dislodge.

_"Peter was always good at making friends. Why don't you try taking a leaf out of his book"_ Julia replied her voice fading.

_"I'm not Parker"_ Kaine said in a low tone before leaping back into the air. He didn't like the idea of going to the hero's he'd met earlier but under circumstances he didn't have much of a choice and he didn't fancy getting attacked in the night by the two he'd met earlier.

* * *

><p><strong>Kord Tower<strong>

_"Incredible"_ Barbara breathed as she watched the footage again. Any new type of fighting style interested her. Oracle had seen a lot of agile people in her time and Dick Grayson had always been the most agile fighter she'd ever seen but this man was on another level entirely. The way every muscle flowed and moved in complete synchronization was amazing, almost second nature.

_"The guy's got moves I'll give him that"_ Hawk said as he got to his feet holding an ice-pack to his swollen head. He flinched involuntarily as the footage played the part where Kaine struck him in the head.

_"Look at this"_ Oracle said as she zoomed in on the frame where Kaine's fist made contact with Hank's head. _"His tricep is taught"_ she exclaimed zooming in on Kaine's arm.

_"So?"_

_"It means he pulled the punch."_

_"Pulled the punch?"_ Hawk replied in surprise.

_"Yeah looks like he might have killed you if he'd have followed through"_ Barbara concluded, zooming in on Kaine's arm.

Huntress peered over her shoulder at the computer moniter and realized Oracle was right. She'd trained enough in her life to know how muscles worked.

_"But it felt like a freight train hitting me head on"_ Hawk groaned again moving back to the couch and slumping into it. Huntress moved aside and Dinah took her place surveying the tape. With her back to the window Helena lent against it thoughtfully.

_"It doesn't matter how strong or fast he is, if he's a threat we need to know"_ she said looking at the rest of the group huddled round Oracles computer.

_"He didn't seem that threatening to me"_ Dinah replied turning to look at her _"It seemed like a genuine case of mistaken identity. He thought we were the bad guys"_

_"We still don't know who he is or what he's capable of"_ Huntress countered.

_"Well why don't you ask him?"_ Dinah replied staring past Helena. The rest of the group seemed to be following her gaze.

_"What are you.."_ Helena began to ask as she turned to face the huge glass window and came face to face with a pair of red lenses. _"Jeezus"_ she exclaimed jumping in surprise.

It was dark outside so the red lenses of Kaine's mask contrasted menacingly menacingly with the darkness but what really caught her attention was the fact that he was sticking to the glass by his finger-tips. Kaine finally getting bored of the surprised stares knocked on the glass with his knuckles and motioned them to let him in.

_"Do we let him in?"_ Lady Blackhawk asked curiously.

_"I don't think that's such a good ide…"_ but before Huntress could finish her sentence Black Canary was already on her feet, pointing at the roof explaining to Kaine that he should come in through the skylight as the giant windows didn't open. The Scarlet Spider nodded and then disappeared from view. A few seconds later a small click resonated and Kaine climbed through the glass panel, closed it and looked down at the group.

_"Hi"_ Dove greeted, breaking the silence.

_"Under normal circumstances I wouldn't be here"_ Kaine began as he dropped to the floor, then straightening up to his full height _"but unfortunately I have no idea where I am or what's going on and you're the only people i've had any contact with who hasn't tried to kill me"_ he explained.

Huntress eyed the man suspiciously. _"No idea where you are?"_ she asked_ "how can you not know that?"_

Kaine hesitated, they didn't need to know about the whole Madame Webb thing, that was best kept to himself for the moment. _"Let's just say I took a wrong turn and ended up here"_ he replied also eyeing Huntress. She didn't like him. Kaine could tell by her body language and the looks she was giving him.

_"How come you can stick to walls?"_ Blackhawk asked, she was the only one on the team who seemed completely unperturbed by Kaine's presence. In fact she was exceedingly curious and began bombarding him with questions. _"How did you turn invisible like that? Why do you have a Spider on your costume? Where do your webs come from?"_ she blurted out looking Kaine up and down curiously.

Kaine blinked attempting to separate one question from the other. Oracle eyed him warily although the man seemed to mean them no harm it never hurt to be too careful.

_"Look lady"_ Kaine said, staring at Blackhawk suspiciously. _"I've only just met you so forgive me if I don't tell you my life story."_

_"Oh that's right you probably don't even remember our names I'm Lady Blackhawk"_ Blackhawk continued, completely unfazed by Kaine's tone. _"That's Black Canary"_ she said gesturing to Dinah who was standing a few metres away. _"That's Dove"_

_"Hi"_ Dove said again a little awkwardly.

_"and the guy you punched is Hawk"_

_"Thanks for that by the way"_ Hawk said sarcastically, as he rubbed his head with the ice-pack.

_"The red-head is Oracle"_ Blackhawk continued. _"And the uptight one over there is Huntress"_ she finished gesturing towards Helena who glared at her._"So lemme guess your name is Spider?"_

Kaine turned his gaze back to Blackhawk who was looking at him thoughtfully.

_"Or Spider-man perhaps?"_

Kaine flinched involuntarily at that name. It was going to take him time to except that name as part of his past. _"Please don't call me that"_ he replied _"It's Scarlet Spider."_

Oracle noticed his reaction and guessed Blackhawk had hit a nerve.

_"Scarlet Spider? Well I guess it makes sense, what with all the red on your costume"_ Blackhawk replied, looking at the crimson suit.

_"Am I the only one who isn't completely mental?"_ Huntress suddenly piped up. Everyone turned to look at the brunette curiously. _"We only just met this guy"_ she continued moving to stand in front of Kaine and pointing an accusing finger at him. _"And he already know's our code name's, where we hide-out and that Blackhawk is a spaz. He could be a spy or someone sent to kill us and we've just let him in with open arms"_ Huntress continued still glaring at Kaine.

_"If I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead already"_ Kaine replied sourly. He'd had about enough of her attitude.

_"Is that a threat?"_ Huntress growled, her hand moving to her belt.

_"No it's a fact"_ Kaine growled back, his muscles instantly going taught.

_"Whoa, whoa lets all just calm down"_ Oracle said trying to stop the fight before it began. _"I can see what Huntress is trying to say even if she's being a complete idiot about it"_ she continued, earning a glare from Helena. _"Why are you here? And why should we trust you?"_ Oracle asked in a serious tone and looking at Kaine.

_"I'm here because I have nowhere else to go, I'm pretty much skint and as far as trusting me goes, remember I could have let those people die earlier but I didn't. Instead I decided to save them and stop the robbery. I believe that puts us in the same line of work. Not to mention I could have killed Barbie over there earlier but I didn't"_ Kaine replied looking Barbara in the eyes and gesturing to Dinah, who raised an eyebrow at being referred to as Barbie.

Oracle tried to see if he was telling the truth but the mask with its big red lenses made things difficult. He did have a point. He had stopped the robbery and he hadn't hurt Dinah even though he'd had ample opportunity.

_"Ok you can stay here a while"_ she replied finally, still staring at Kaine suspiciously.

_"You're all mad"_ Helena said turning away from the group and back to Kaine. _"I'm going to be keeping an eye on you Spider-guy"_ she said pushing past him heading towards her room.

_"Is she always that much fun?"_ Kaine asked watching Helena's retreating form.

_"Afraid so. Don't worry she'll come around eventually"_ Blackhawk replied following his gaze.

_"Well it'll be good to finally have some male company around here"_ Hawk said looking at Kaine. _"things can get a bit oestrogen filled around here. I swear if I come out of this team still 100% straight I'll be amazed"_ he finished chuckling slightly.

* * *

><p><strong>A few minutes later<strong>

_"So how long have you been the Scarlet Spider?"_ Oracle asked.

She and Kaine where sitting at a table. She'd been attempting to get a glimpse as to who he was but Kaine wasn't making it easy. The other members of the team had all gone to bed apart from Huntress who was sitting on the couch reading a book. At least that's what she wanted them to think. She meant what she said about not letting the new guy out of her sight.

_"Not very long"_ Kaine replied. He wasn't lying, he hadn't been the Scarlet Spider for even a week yet. Of course if they counted the years he'd spent wallowing in his own insanity and attempting to kill Ben Reilly and Peter Parker then he had been doing it quite a while.

_"I doubt that"_ Oracle replied raising an eyebrow. _"The way you knew exactly who attack first during the robbery and how you knew which way they were going to attack you from. That is something that comes from experience not just ability"_ she finished firmly.

_"I just said I haven't been been the Scarlet Spider for that long. I never said I didn't have any experience"_ Kaine countered.

This made a bit of sense to Oracle, as she'd thought earlier it seemed unlikely that someone with skills like his would fly completely under the radar. If he'd gone by a different name in the past he might be even someone she'd heard of, perhaps even known during her time as Batgirl. Still, she didn't recognize his fighting style so she doubted he was someone she'd met.

_"Why don't you take your mask off?"_ she asked suddenly, staring into the red lenses.

_"Because I don't fully trust you"_ Kaine replied simply.

_"And I don't fully trust you and yet you're staying here under our roof"_ Oracle countered.

Kaine thought about this for a moment. She had a point and it wasn't like he was trying to protect his identity, heck he didn't even have one. Not to mention he wasn't even in his own dimension. What would it matter if they saw his face?

_"Fine"_ he replied as he put his hand to his neck and began to pull the mask off. Huntress turned away from her book, she wanted to know exactly what he looked like it, might be useful later.

As Kaine pulled the mask off Oracle was greeted by pair of piercing brown eyes. He had short brown hair and a 5 o'clock shadow lined his face. He would have been very attractive had his eyes not betrayed a darkness buried somewhere inside.

"Nope I've never seen this guy before in my life" she thought. _"Barbara Gordon"_ Oracle said offering her hand. Kaine took it gently and shook.

_"Kaine"_ he replied.

_"Kaine? That's it?"_ Barbara asked, a little surprised.

Kaine hadn't really thought about it but she was right he only had a first name. The one he had given himself.

_"Parker, Kaine Parker"_ he finished. He was honoring Ben by taking up the mantle of the Scarlet Spider and as he was trying to come to terms with his past he decided taking his real last name would be one way of moving forward.

Helena got up from her seat and began walking towards the kitchen. She couldn't get a good look at him from her seat and this seemed like the nonchalant way of getting a good look at him. She was quite taken aback when she did see him and she stopped dead. She hadn't expected him to look like that. Helena had assumed as he didn't have a place to stay that he would have been a bit homeless looking but the face that greeted her was the exact opposite and his piercing brown eyes seemed to tear into her rendering speech difficult.

"Whats wrong?" Oracle asked giving Huntress an odd look it wasn't often she saw her friend lost for words.

"I'm sorry I just didn't expect you to look so…"

"So?" Kaine asked curiously, turning his attention to her.

_"normal"_ Huntress finished but that wasn't the word that was really going through her mind. She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of knowing what she was really thinking.

_"I'll take that as a compliment"_ Kaine replied smirking slightly. _"Well you've seen me it only stands to reason you return the favor"_ he continued, looking at Helena.

She debated this for a second but decided against it. _"Sorry I still don't trust you"_ she said turning on her heals and heading back to her seat.

_"Wow she really is uptight"_ Kaine said turning back to Oracle who was smiling slightly.

_"Shut up"_ Huntress growled from beneath her book.

"Well Helena" Oracle thought "looks like you're quite interested in our new friend._"May I see your mask?"_ Barbara asked turning her attention back to Kaine and holding out her hand.

Kaine picked the piece of material off the table and handed it to her. As she turned it over in her hands she noticed that the outside layer was a fabric but beneath was a layer of small circuits.

_"What are these?"_ She asked looking at Kaine and pointing to the mask.

_"It's a layer of omni-harmonic mesh"_ Kaine replied. _"It allows me to move without emitting any form of sound and prevents me from being effected by sonic attacks"_ he explained seeing the puzzled expression on Barbara's face.

_"Really? I've never heard of anything like that"_ Oracle mused turning the fabric over in her hand.

_"It can also bend and reflect light around the outside of it allowing me limited invisibility"_ Kaine said, watching her curiously.

_"Where did you get this?"_ Barbara asked. The only man she knew with the kind of resources needed to pull this off went by the name Batman.

_"I made it"_ Kaine replied simply. Technically he wasn't lying, he'd been cloned from Peter's DNA and Peter had made the suit thus he had theoretically made it. Not to mention he didn't feel like talking about the fact he was the clone of another person.

Oracle looked up at him surprised. _"I didn't peg you for the science type"_ she said handing him back the mask. _"That's a very interesting piece of equipment. If you don't mind I'd be interested to take a look at some point"_ Barbara continued, staring at the fabric curiously.

_"Perhaps when we're not so jumpy with each other"_ Kaine replied, placing the mask back on the table.

Oracle nodded in agreement. Although she was sure this man didn't mean them any harm there was something un-nerving about him. Something dark and she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"_I don't mean to be rude but I'm really tired"_ Kaine said, not noticing her surveying him.

_"Oh sure, you can sleep in the spare room"_ Oracle said wheeling herself away from the table._ "Follow me."_

As they moved past Huntress he noticed she was still keeping an eye on him. "She really doesn't like me being here" he thought smiling slightly.

As he followed Oracle down the hall he looked the red-head up and down. She was about 26 and pretty in a geeky sort of way.

_"If you don't mind my asking how did you ermmm…"_

_"end up in a wheelchair?"_ Oracle said finishing his sentence for him.

_"Yeah"_ Kaine replied sheepishly.

_"It was due to one of the many lunatics in my life"_ Barbara finished not particularly wanting to relive that memory.

Kaine noticed the look on her face and decided not to press the matter.

_"Here's your room"_ she said pushing a door open.

_"Thanks"_ Kaine replied as he entered and closed the door behind him. He pulled off the crimson suit and threw it on the floor, before pulling on a pair of jeans and collapsing onto the bed.


	4. Search For The Informant

**Kord Tower**

_"You're nothing!"_

The voice cut through Kaine's head like a knife.

_"A failed experiment, a complete waste of time and DNA!"_ The Jackals face suddenly appeared in front of him.

_"Go fuck yourself"_ Kaine snarled back. The Jackal simply laughed in response.

_"You're pathetic, a fraud, an imitation of life!"_

_"NO!"_ Kaine shot up in bed, sunlight streaming in through the large window onto his face. Falling onto his back he put his hand to his face and wiped the sleep from his eyes. The Jackals legacy was still haunting him and it didn't seem to be going anywhere soon. Getting out of bed he walked over to his backpack looking for his shirt.

"Where did I put the damn thing?" he thought, rummaging through the bag. "Oh yeah that's where it is" he thought as he remembered he'd left it in that apartment last night when the woman had tried to kill him. _"I guess I'll have to ask Hawk if I can borrow some of his clothes"_ he muttered walking out of his room. As he walked down the corridor he heard voices coming from the room he'd been in last night. Nearing the door he could hear more clearly.

_"Why did you let him stay here? He could have slaughtered us in our sleep!"_ He heard Huntress shout in an annoyed tone.

_"Well clearly I didn't or you wouldn't be having this conversation"_ Kaine said, entering the room and surprising the group.

_"You look pretty good without your mask on"_ Blackhawk commented, raising an eyebrow.

Huntress cleared her throat and tore her eyes off Kaine's chest. There was something about him that intrigued and infuriated her at the same time. _"Why don't you put a shirt on?"_ she asked curtly.

_"Maybe I would if I had one"_ Kaine countered bluntly._ "Have you got any spare clothes I could borrow"_ Kaine asked turning to Hawk.

_"Yeah wait here I'll try and find something"_ Hank said getting up and walking towards his room. The remaining group stared at each other awkwardly.

_"So your suit is what lets you stick to walls?"_ Blackhawk finally piped up breaking the silence.

_"No I can do that on my own"_ Kaine replied.

_"What about your speed and strength? Is that the suit?"_ Blackhawk asked again.

_"Nope, that's all me as well"_ Kaine replied, walking over to one of the large windows and looking out of it to the docks below.

_"So if it's not the suit how exactly do you stick to walls?"_ Dove asked curiously.

_"I don't really know the in's and out's of it but it's something to do with magnetism"_ Kaine replied placing his hand against the glass and pulling himself up. He quickly scaled it until he reached the ceiling. Where he stood up feet firmly attached to the brickwork.

_"So I was right. You're not human are you?"_ Oracle asked looking up at Kaine who was looking down on them from his perch.

_"I am, just a very unusual one. I'm not an alien or anything like that if that's what you're thinking"_ Kaine replied as he walked along the ceiling.

_"Here's some stuff you can borrow"_ Hawk said entering the room holding a small pile of clothes.

_"Up here"_ Kaine replied a webline snapping from his wrist, snagging the pile and pulling it to his free hand.

_"Crap, I'm going to need time to get used to that"_ Hawk muttered as he watched Kaine catch the clothes. Quickly sorting through them Kaine found a white T-shirt similar to the one he'd lost yesterday. Pulling it on he detached himself from the ceiling and fell gracefully to the floor.

_"Thanks"_ he said turning to Hawk.

_"No problem. Just don't get them covered with that web stuff of yours"_ he muttered looking at the long strand still protruding from Kaine's wrist.

_"Would anyone mind giving me a little tour of the city? I had a brief exploration of it but it didn't go all that well"_ Kaine asked, thinking back to the incident with the two strangers.

_"Sorry bro"_ Hawk said slumping into the couch_ "I've got a few things to take care of but we'll grab a beer later if you like."_

_"I'll do it"_ Dinah replied. _"To be honest I've been looking for an excuse to go and checkout a part of town that's been having a bad reputation recently"_ she finished.

_"I was referring to the better parts but sure"_ Kaine muttered under his breath.

* * *

><p><strong>Gotham: a few minutes later<strong>

_"It doesn't look too bad here"_ Kaine said looking around him as he and Dinah walked down a deserted street, both dressed in civilian clothes.

_"That's because we aren't there yet"_ Black Canary replied. _"Wait until we turn down there"_ she finished pointing to the end of the road.

_"Ah"_ Kaine exclaimed as they rounded the corner. It was your stereotypical gangland district. Graffiti lined the walls, clothes and rubbish lay strewn on the floor.

_"We'd recently cleared this area out but we've received messages recently from friends saying that the illegal drug trade had started up again"_ Dinah replied thoughtfully.

_"So this is a recon mission?"_ Kaine asked eyeing Dinah.

_"Yes, sorry about the ulterior motive"_ she said turning to Kaine and smiling apologetically.

_"So how do you know the drug trade started up again?"_ he asked, turning away from her and focusing his eyes on the road ahead. Honestly he didn't really care but it would be best not to upset his host's.

_"Well a new form of narcotic has been appearing recently. Even more addictive than heroine according to Oracle's tests."_

_"Have you got any idea who's supplying them?"_ Kaine asked still keeping his eye on the road in front of them. Although his spider-sense would warn him if anyone attacked, it still put him on edge walking in this kind of territory.

_"We know that people are getting it from bartenders at certain nightclubs and bars"_ Dinah replied.

_"Why not just get hold of one of them and..erm…'persuade' them to tell you where they are getting it from?"_

_"We tried that. This organization is clever. They tell them next to nothing. They get all their information from informants and it's on a strictly need to know basis so they aren't told where the cargo arrives or even how much there is going to be. They just take the money they are given and get on with their jobs"_ Dinah replied sighing.

_"Sounds like a pretty secretive organization"_ Kaine replied as he kept a close eye on a man who was giving them glances he didn't like the look of.

_"It is. We got a message from some friends this morning saying they almost caught one of the informants. Turned out they were in over their heads as the guy was super-human"_ Dinah replied thinking back to the message they had received from the Titans while Kaine was still sleeping. As they turned a corner Kaine's spider-sense went off.

_"Give us your money!"_

Kaine didn't even see the man as he felt the dagger prodding his back. Instinct kicked in and he span round, violently grabbing the man's wrist. Pushing the knife aside he quickly delivered a kick to his left leg, feeling the bone snap and he saw blood spurt to the floor as the broken bone ripped through flesh. Still fighting on instinct he grabbed the second man who stood behind him by the face and pulled back carving the familiar bloody hand print into the man's face. The man fell to his knee's screaming and clutching his bleeding visage.

"Kill them!" a little voice said in Kaine's head "if you don't they are just going to do it again to someone else who won't be lucky enough to have your abilities. Their nothing but garbage, nothing but prey!"

Dinah stood in shock. It had all happened so quickly she hadn't even had time to react. Then she noticed the look in Kaine's eye's, she'd seen it before it was the look someone normally gave before they took a life.

_"No"_ she gasped, putting herself between Kaine and the men.

_"Why?"_ Kaine growled, looking at the two men lying on the ground moaning and clutching their injuries.

_"Because they aren't worth it!"_ Dinah said, looking Kaine in the eyes sternly. Kaine stared back. He was tempted to push her aside and do it anyway but the bloodlust was starting to fade and he couldn't really be bothered to end their miserable lives.

_"Whatever"_ he said turning away from them and continuing down the street.

Breathing a sigh of relief Dinah began to follow him but the incident had changed her view on Kaine slightly. She was pretty sure that if she hadn't been there he probably would have killed those two men but she did give him some credit. Had he really wanted to he could have thrown her to one side and done it anyway.

_"Why did you do that?"_

Dinah looked up to see Kaine staring at her curiously.

_"Didn't it cross your mind I could have just pinned you down and done it anyway? Why risk getting hurt for them?"_

_"But you didn't did you? It's our job to be better than they are. Blood won't wash away more blood and deep down you know that or else I'd probably be webbed to a wall or out cold right now and those men would be dead"_ Dinah replied, returning Kaine's stare.

"With great power, comes great responsibility" the words echoed in his head like bell's ringing. "Oh great. Thanks a lot Parker" Kaine thought as Peter's uncle's words resonated in his head over and over again.

* * *

><p><strong>Back at Kord Tower<strong>

_"Seriously I don't see what your problem is with the guy"_ Blackhawk sighed, looking at Huntress.

Helena Bertinelli gave her friend an exasperated look. _"We don't know anything about him or his past. How many more times do I have to say this?"_

_"I think we should give him a chance"_ Dove replied, agreeing with Blackhawk.

_"You guys can finish this discussion later we've got company"_ Oracle said as a beeping noise emitted from her laptop informing her someone was in the elevator.

Ravager, Kid Devil and Time Drake Aka Red Robin stepped out.

_"Well, well look who's turned up"_ Hawk retorted, turning his attention briefly from the tele. _"We heard you got caught with your pants down"_ Hawk continued smirking and looking at Rose.

_"Literally"_ Kid Devil replied, also smirking.

_"Shut up"_ Ravager growled in annoyance. _"and it was my shirt not pants"_ she muttered under her breath.

_"So we got your message this morning. What can you tell us about this guy?"_ Oracle asked.

_"Ask Rose, she got up close and personal with him"_ Devil said, chuckling again.

_"You get a name out of him?"_ Barbara asked, turning to Ravager.

_"Peter"_ Rose replied thinking back to the bar.

_"Description?"_ Oracle asked bring up the police database.

_"Ermmm tall, about 6.1ft __maybe a bit more, short brown hair, brown eyes, muscular,"_

_"and hot right?"_ Devil asked nudging her playfully. Ravager just rolled her eyes at him.

They sifted through a few mug shots but Rose didn't recognize any of them. _"Nope, he's not there"_ Rose said after she'd seen all of the pictures that fitted her description.

_"Let's run them again to be sure"_ Oracle said and Ravager took her mask off to get a better look.

_"A new player perhaps?"_ Red Robin suggested as the pictures replayed.

_"Where's Black Canary?"_ Kid Devil asked, suddenly noticing her absence.

_"She's out with the new guy"_ Dove said as she leant against the window.

_"New guy?"_ Robin asked curiously, turning to Oracle.

_"Yeah some guy turned up and stopped Shiva robbing a bank yesterday"_ Oracle replied, still concentrating on her laptop.

_"That's pretty impressive for a new guy"_ Robin replied before turning back to the photo's.

_"Nope, he's definitely not any of them"_ Ravager said wearily as they went through the set for the third time. They had been looking at photo's for the best part of two hours and she hadn't seen anyone like the man she'd met the night before.

_"Well doesn't look like we're going to get any new information here"_ Tim sighed getting up. _"We'll keep scouting the night clubs and we'll let you know if we find anything."_

_"Ok, thanks guys"_ Oracle replied as the trio got back into the elevator and disappeared from view.

* * *

><p>Kaine and Dinah where approaching Kord tower when suddenly the trio emerged. Dinah was about to approach when Kaine grabbed her shoulder and pulled her into an alleyway.<p>

_"What is it?"_ she asked in surprise.

_"The weird guy with the horns attacked me last night along with a girl who had long platinum hair"_ he replied taking another quick glance at them.

_"Kid Devil and Ravager attacked you?"_ Dinah asked in surprise, guessing who the girl must have been by the hair color. _"I'm sure you were mistaken they wouldn't attack you without any cause"_ she paused and then looked at Kaine sternly. _"Did you do something to make them want to attack you?"_

_"Of course not. It's not like I'm here to make enemies"_ Kaine replied exasperatedly.

_"Look they're heading this way. I'm sure it's a misunderstanding but if you'd prefer put your mask on and we'll sort it out later"_ she said watching as the three Titans drew nearer. Quickly pulling the mask from his jacket pocket Kaine slipped it over his face and they both walked out.

_"Dinah"_ Tim exclaimed in surprise as the duo appeared.

_"Hi Robin"_ the blond said approaching.

_"This must be the new guy"_ Robin said looking at the tall muscular man behind her. Kaine stared back through the red lenses hoping the two others wouldn't recognize him. He guessed the woman in the half-mask was the girl he'd met the night before as he could see her long hair flowing out the sides of the mask.

_"Robin"_ Tim said holding out his hand. Kaine grasped it and shook.

_"Scarlet Spider"_ he replied, hoping the mask would muffle his voice enough to stop them recognize him.

_"Always good to have new people on the good side"_ Kid Devil said also offering his hand which Kaine took warily. As Ravager approached him, Dinah noticed his entire body tense as if he was a lion about to pounce on its prey and she quickly dragged Kaine away towards the tower, whilst shouting some words of farewell to Robin. As they entered the elevator Kaine pulled his mask off.

_"I thought you were going to rip into her just then"_ Black Canary said looking at Kaine nervously as he put the mask back in his pocket.

_"You have no idea how close I came to doing just that"_ he growled.

_"We'll talk to Oracle about what happened and see if we can get this sorted out"_ Dinah replied as she pushed the button to take them to the top floor. She knew the Titans. They wouldn't attack without reason, this put Kaine's morality into question. She knew he was violent and impulsive but for some strange reason she trusted him.

_"Who were they?"_ Kaine asked as he in Dinah stepped out of the elevator into the large room where all the other birds were grouped.

_"Who were who?"_ Oracle asked looking up from her laptop.

_"The contestants for world's worst costumes that just left"_ Kaine replied bitterly. Hawk let out a small laugh at that, even Huntress smiled slightly.

_"Ah so you met the Titans?"_ Dove replied also smiling.

_"I had my mask on because they tried to attack me last time we met"_ Kaine replied slumping into a chair.

_"What?"_ Blackhawk said shocked.

_"Yeah last night I was…"_ but he was interrupted as Huntress moved swiftly towards him striking him in the neck. Pulling his hands behind his back and quickly clipping a pair of cuffs round his wrists. Although his spider-sense had warned him of the attack he hadn't bothered to resist it as he knew the others would hear him out.

_"Huntress!"_ Oracle shouted in surprise.

_"I knew we never should have trusted him! He's the contact they were talking about"_ Helena said glaring at Kaine. For some reason she was a little sad about this outcome but she quickly pushed it to the back of her mind.

_"We can at least hear his side of story! Besides the contact said his name was Peter"_ Oracle shouted angrily at her friend before turning to Kaine._ "You better have a damn good explanation"_ she said looking at Kaine suspiciously. Kaine sat back upright and snapped the shackles as if they were made of plastic.

"Those where made of titanium alloy and he didn't even flinch" Helena thought slightly worried as she put her hand to the gun holster attached to her belt.

_"Ok here's what happened"_ Kaine began.

* * *

><p><em>"So that's all I know"<em> Kaine said after he'd finished telling his side of the story.

_"Why did you introduce yourself as Peter?"_ Huntress asked sourly.

_"I got bad vibes from Ravager so I just gave her the first name that sprang to mind"_ Kaine replied, glaring at her.

_"Yeah, Ravager gives me the creeps sometimes as well"_ Hawk agreed.

Oracle thought about what she'd heard. It did seem like a genuine case of wrong place at the wrong time. _"I believe you"_ Barbara said, looking Kaine in the eyes.

Kaine breathed a sigh of relief, he didn't fancy being on the bad side of the only people he knew. Huntress gave a small annoyed groan but secretly she was happy that he wasn't who they'd thought he was.

_"We need to sort this out as quickly as possible"_ Oracle continued, turning back to her computer.

_"Just how strong are you anyway?"_ Huntress asked, bending down and picking up the broken manacles trying her best to seem uninterested in the reply.

_"Last time I checked I could lift 25 tons"_ Kaine replied, looking at the broken manacles.

_"25 tons?"_ Blackhawk gasped, looking at him disbelievingly.

_"Well I haven't had an official test or anything but that seems about right"_ Kaine replied.

"No wonder these didn't hold him" Helena thought looking at the broken manacles in her hand then at Kaine. They hadn't been made to withstand that kind of raw power. She originally guessed him to be around the 5 ton mark so to hear that it was so much more surprised her. Although it did explain why he pulled his punches a lot. If he hit anyone with a 25 ton punch they'd be dead before they hit the ground.

_"We'll have to go to the Titans Gotham base as soon as we can" _Oracle stated, looking at the Scarlet Spider.

_"Oh I'm sure that'll be a laugh"_ Kaine replied sarcastically.


	5. Surprises

**Titans Gotham Base**

_"We'll talk to them and explain what happened"_ Oracle said as she and Kaine stepped through the door.

_"Barbara what brings you here so soon?"_ Tim asked, surprised at seeing her again.

_"He does"_ Barbara said moving aside. To reveal Kaine who was now wearing his full suit.

_"What can we help you with?"_ Ravager asked eyeing the Scarlet Spider suspiciously. Kaine turned fixing his red lenses on Rose. He really wanted to punch her or even just poke her, anything at all but he restrained himself. Instead he raised his arm and the stinger snapped out. Ravagers eyes widened as she recognized the spear like object.

_"You!"_ both she and Devil said in unison. Ravager quickly unsheathed the katana she had on her back and stared at Kaine waiting for him to make the first move.

_"Whoa, whoa"_ Robin said surprised at his teammates reactions.

_"That's him! That's the guy who attacked us last night"_ Ravager growled, watching as Kaine pulled the mask off to reveal the familiar piercing brown eyes.

_"I attacked you?"_ Kaine snarled. _"I was sitting at the bar minding my own business and you come at me like some kind of hooker and try to stab me."_

_"Ok lets all take a deep breath and sort this out"_ Oracle reasoned turning to Tim for support.

_"Stand down guys"_ Robin said looking at his teammates. Reluctantly they both followed his order._ "If Oracle is on your side you must have an explanation so lets hear it"_ Robin continued eyeing Kaine.

_"What I said just now pretty much summed it up"_ Kaine replied curtly. _"I was sitting at the bar drinking when she practically threw herself at me like some bitch in heat"_ Kaine continued, anger welling inside him. Mostly he was angry at himself for his weakness and being tricked so easily. The Jackal's smug face appeared in his mind and he lost control. He span round and punched the titanium wall with all his force, the Jackals laughter fueling him on.

_"Whoa, whoa calm down"_ Oracle cried, shocked at the outburst.

_"Jeezus"_ Tim said taking a step back as he watched Kaine tear the titanium wall to shreds. Kaine snapped out of it. Putting a hand to his head he suppressed the Jackals laughter until it disappeared altogether.

_"Sorry"_ Kaine said turning back to the group who were looking at him nervously. _"I've got some issues about being used"_ he continued, giving Ravager a deathly glare.

Oracle looked at him worriedly, she hadn't expected that. He clearly had some kind of emotional issue.

_"Oracle can I talk to you for a moment?"_ Tim asked pulling Barbara aside and taking her into another room._ "He's dangerous"_ Robin began as soon as they were in the next room.

_"I had no idea he would snap like that"_ Oracle agreed. _"but he hasn't harmed any of us since his arrival and he did save those civilians during the back robbery"_ she countered.

_"His heart may be in the right place but his head definitely isn't"_ Tim continued. _"Did you see the way he ripped through those titanium plates? Imagine if that was a person. You for example."_

_"I was in grasping range and yet he didn't attack me. Kaine may be explosive but he's done nothing so far that causes me suspicion"_ Barbara replied firmly. _"Besides if he has a problem isn't it our job to help him?"_

_"Look I'm just worried ok"_ Tim replied sighing when he realized nothing he was going to say would sway her. _"Kaine, that was what you called him right? He seems to have a lot of anger and in a body with that type of raw power it could become a real problem."_

Barbara didn't reply. This she agreed with. Someone with Kaine's abilities couldn't afford to lose control.

Kaine stood looking at the door, he could just make out what they were saying due to his enhanced hearing and he agreed with most of it. He shouldn't have let his anger take control of him like that. The Jackal was gone, he was free of that son of a bitch and he'd never be his pawn again.

_"Look man, we didn't mean to ermm…..provoke you last night."_

Kaine turned away from the door coming face to face with Devil who was holding out his hand.

_"It was a misunderstanding and we were reckless. We should have thought it through. Sorry."_

Kaine took his hand and shook it. _"Apology accepted"_ Kaine sighed, he was still annoyed but this seemed to calm him slightly. Devil turned to Ravager and gave her an incredulous look. Sighing Rose got up and approached hand also extended. Again Kaine shook it, even though she hadn't said anything he could tell this was her way of apologizing.

_"So I'm guessing you name's not Peter? None of the Birds recognized it when we asked for you"_ Kid Devil said as he lowered himself into a chair.

_"No, it's Kaine"_ Kaine replied as he sat in a chair opposite Devil.

_"I'm Eddie and that's Rose"_ he replied cheerfully, happier now that he wasn't on Kaine's list of punching bags.

_"So you used your real name?"_ Kaine asked turning to Ravager who was standing not far from him. She didn't reply. _"A bit risky isn't it?"_

Ravager glared at him but still didn't reply.

_"She wasn't very talkative last night either"_ Kaine continued turning back to Kid Devil. Eddie couldn't help but smile slightly. He could see Kaine was trying to provoke her into responding and knowing Ravager it would probably work. _"Tell me do you always interrogate your targets in bed like that?"_ Kaine asked, watching as Ravager got a little angrier.

_"It's a hazard of the job"_ she replied finally.

_"I don't know. You seemed pretty into it when you kissed me"_ Kaine countered raising an eyebrow. Devil stifled a laugh as he watched his friend get more and more uncomfortable.

_"Say whatever you want but you were taken in as well"_ she replied, quickly changing expression and giving him the same playful glance Kaine had seen the night before.

_"What's with the eyepatch?"_ Kaine asked, curiosity finally taking hold. He'd noticed her wearing it when he'd arrived.

_"To cover up a missing eye perhaps?"_ Ravager replied sarcastically. _"I was wearing a prosthetic one last night"_ she explained seeing Kaines confused face.

_"Oh, sorry"_ Kaine replied sheepishly.

_"It's ok. I did it to myself"_ Rose admitted.

_"What? Why?"_ Kaine asked surprised. Before Ravager could reply Oracle and Robin re-emerged from the room.

_"C'mon Kaine lets go. We've sorted it out"_ Barbara said moving towards him.

_"Bye"_ Eddie shouted after them as they left.

_"Cya and ermmm sorry about the wall"_ Kaine replied as he disappeared through the door.

_"Aren't you going to change back into you civvies?"_ Oracle asked turning to Kaine._ "It'll look pretty weird if you walk through the city dressed like that"_ she said smiling slightly. Kaine nodded in agreement and pulled his civvies out of his backpack that was currently hanging on Barbara's wheel chair.

_"Thanks for sticking up for me back there"_ Kaine said as he wheeled Barbara through the street. Oracle turned to him confused. _"When you were talking to that Tim guy"_ he explained.

_"You heard that?"_ Oracle asked in surprise.

_"Sorry. I didn't want to eavesdrop but I couldn't help it. Enhanced hearing"_ Kaine explained tapping one of his ears.

"_When we get back I need you to tell me exactly what your abilities are. No offense but I can't have you running around without knowing what you can do"_ Barbara said. Luckily due to all the people and cars in the street it was impossible for anyone to make out what they were saying.

_"Fair enough"_ Kaine replied as he pushed her through the crowded road.

_"Barbara?"_

Kaine stopped pushing as a man with short black hair stepped out in front of them.

_ "Grayson"_ Oracle said in surprise.

_"How have you been?"_ Dick asked looking at the red-head.

_"I'm fine Dick"_ she replied, noticing that he had now turned his attention to Kaine.

_"And you are?"_ Grayson asked giving Kaine an odd glance.

_"Kaine"_ Kaine replied holding out his hand.

"There's something off about this guy" Grayson thought as he took Kaine's hand and shook it. He applied a little bit of pressure to see how Kaine would react. Kaine felt it and smiled slightly realizing that he was trying to get a reaction out of him. Instead he applied a small amount of his own strength.

_"Pleased to meet you"_ Dick replied, removing his hand he saw it had gone red from where Kaine had squeezed it.

_"Well it was good seeing you but we really have to get back"_ Barbara said, noticing the tension.

_"Ok I'll come see you soon"_ Grayson replied as Kaine pushed Oracle away.

_"I don't think he likes me very much either"_ Kaine growled as soon as they where out of earshot.

_"We had a thing once and he's still a little protective of me"_ she replied.

_"Ah that would explain it. Why didn't you tell him we weren't together?"_ Kaine asked.

_"Because he came with such an attitude then, I thought I'd teach him a lesson"_ Barbara replied smiling deviously.

_"Women are so manipulative"_ Kaine replied not being able to keep himself from smiling slightly.

_"Dinah showed you round the not so nice parts of Gotham this morning right? How about I show you round the better parts"_ Barbara asked looking over her shoulder at Kaine.

**Kord Tower**

_"They're late back"_ Dove commented as she looked out the window at the darkening sky.

_"He's probably kidnapped her"_ Huntress muttered under her breath. Just then the elevator began to rise and both Oracle and Kaine emerged. Helena quickly scrambled to pull her mask back on before Kaine saw.

_"What took you guys so long?"_ Dinah asked.

_"Well not that I wasn't ungrateful for the scenic tour this morning but Barbara offered to show me round the less murderous parts of Gotham"_ Kaine replied as he sat down.

_"You sorted everything out with the Titans?"_ Blackhawk asked turning to Oracle.

_"Yes it was a misunderstanding that's all. We're all friends now."_

For the next few minutes the Birds talked amongst themselves about what to do about the narcotics trade. Finally getting bored Kaine got to his feet and walked until he was directly under the skylight. Crouching he jumped to ceiling and opened the skylight.

_"Where are you going?"_ Helena asked eyeing him as he pulled off his clothes revealing the crimson costume.

_"I'm going to go vent"_ Kaine replied as he opened the skylight. Both Oracle and Dinah looked slightly worried at this. _"Don't worry"_ Kaine said noticing their expressions. _"I promise I won't kill anyone."_

Huntress eyed him suspiciously.

_"You think I'm going to report something to some master bad guy don't you?"_ Kaine sighed looking at Huntress.

_"The thought had crossed my mind"_ she replied sourly.

_"If you're so worried why don't you come along then? I'm only going to stop a few senseless muggings and maybe beat some sense into the perpetrators. It might loosen you up a bit"_ Kaine continued as he pulled the mask on. Everyone held their breath and turned to look at Huntress.

_"I'm not uptight"_ Helena growled.

_"Prove it_" Kaine countered.

_"Fine I'll come!"_ Huntress replied frustrated, turning she began to walk to towards the elevator. Suddenly she found herself lifted off the floor as Kaine quickly jumped from the roof and scooped her up bridal style.

_"What the hell are you doing?"_ she demanded in surprise, very aware of Kaine's arms wrapped round her her.

_"We're taking my mode of transport"_ Kaine replied simply. Using his spider-like agility he jumped to the ceiling and out of the skylight.

_"If he comes back alive after picking her up like that I'll be surprised"_ Hawk said laughing.

_"She didn't seem to mind it that much"_ Blackhawk replied winking at him.

_"Put me down!"_ Helena growled as Kaine landed on the roof.

_"You don't want me to do that"_ Kaine replied as he wrapped one arm around her waist to free his other hand and leapt off the roof into thin air.

The feeling of falling knocked the breath straight out of her but it was quickly stopped as a webline shot from Kaine's wrist and the momentum threw them forward. As she got used to the feeling of weightlessness and the sensation of Kaine's inhuman movements the whole experience was actually quite exhilarating. It was then she became very aware of the Scarlet Spider's arm around her waist. Luckily Kaine was concentrating on swinging and didn't notice the slight color that graced her cheeks.

_"Hold on tight this is going to be rough!"_

Helena looked in front and saw Kaine was swinging towards a pedestrian bridge. It was supported by lots of iron girders that crisscrossed, holding the bridge in place and protecting the civilians from falling off. As Kaine swung faster towards it she began to get nervous.

_"You're not serious?"_ Huntress asked turning to him. _"You can't make it through that at this speed!"_

_"I beg to differ"_ Kaine replied smiling under his mask. Releasing the webline, he used the momentum to throw himself forward. As the bridge drew closer Kaine chose the biggest gap and pulled a surprised Helena flush to himself. Before she understood what was happening Helena found herself pressed flat against him as Kaine sped through the gaps in the bridge effortlessly using his spider-like agility before emerging on the other side. The closeness of being pressed against him wasn't something she had expected and the feeling of warmth and the way his muscles moved beneath her caused her mind to go temporarily blank.

_"You know if you put your arms around my neck I could use both hands and we'd move a lot faster"_ Kaine said as he wrapped his arm back around her waist and pulled her into the previous position they had been traveling in.

_ "Fine"_ Huntress replied snapping out of her daze and trying to sound indifferent but a slight shakiness in her voice gave her away. The Scarlet Spider now with both hands free sped up. As it was getting dark the city lights seemed to blur and Huntress wondered how he could see anything at this speed not to mention how he wasn't even getting breathless. His breathing had remained completely calm since earlier. She could feel the rise and fall of his chest against her as he breathed.

As Kaine swung through the streets he kept an eye out for anything that looked a little suspicious. Then he spotted something. A man dressed in dark clothes with a hoodie pulled over his head was following a young couple down a deserted alleyway.

"You'd think by now people would realize walking down alleyways at night is never a good idea" Kaine thought as he landed on the side of a building and began to crawl along it. Helena quickly changed positions holding onto him from the back of his neck so he could scale the wall without her impeding his progress. As she looked down the street she realized where they were. "How the hell did we get here so fast?" she thought. It was a 40minute journey by conventional methods an yet the trip had only been about 15 minutes long.

Kaine turned down the alleyway, his attention completely focused on the man in front. Huntress followed his gaze and saw what he was looking at. As the young couple arrived at an intersection more men appeared from all sides.

_"Well hello gorgeous"_ one of the men said leering at the woman and pulling out a knife.

_"Three for me and two for you?"_ Kaine asked looking at Huntress.

_"Show off"_ Helena muttered as she let go of Kaine and dropped to the ground. She came up behind the man Kaine had originally been following and kicked him in the back of the leg forcing him to the floor. She then struck him on the left temple knocking him out cold. One of the men jumped at her but to his surprise he hit something and fell back to the floor. The Scarlet Spider disengaged his invisibility and picked the man up by his neck.

_"You're about to have a really bad night"_ Kaine growled throwing him into one of the other men. The couple who had been the intended victims ran down the street as fast as they could away from the fight.

Kaine quickly took care of the third leaping over him and kicking him hard in the shin, causing the bone to break. As the man fell to the floor Kaine turned his attention to Huntress who was on her last opponent. He watched as she put the man in a wrist lock and drove her fist into the man's flank obviously breaking a rib as the man crumpled to the floor moaning and coughing.

This surprised Kaine. he'd assumed by the company she kept that she'd be like the others but the way every one of Huntress's blows was filled with vicious intent said otherwise. Kaine's spider-sense went off and he quickly turned to see one of the men he thought was out cold produce a gun and train it on Huntress. Using his inhuman speed he grabbed the gun and tore it from the mans hand. He then placed his other hand flat against the mans face and pushed him against a wall. He could see the mans terrified eye's staring at him from between his fingers.

_"If you or any of your friends try this again. I swear to god I'll find you"_ Kaine said glaring at the man. Huntress watched in quiet fascination as he spoke to the man. _"I'll find you and I'll break your bones in ways that never heal. Do you understand me?"_ he finished calmly.

The man nodded.

_"And if for some reason you ever think about doing this again just remember this"_ Kaine finished, ripping his hand away leaving the bloody hand-mark embedded in the mans face. The man crumpled to the floor moaning in pain.

Huntress was taken aback by Kaine's brutality. She hadn't expected that.

_"I didn't think you where that ermmm…" _Helena began not really sure how to finish.

_"Vicious?"_ Kaine asked finishing her sentence. Helena nodded.

_"Same goes for you. I assumed you were going to be a like all the other hero's I've met. The ones who think it's ok for pieces of garbage like this to get away with nothing but a slap on the wrist"_ he finished glaring at the man.

_"It's good to see I'm not the only one who thinks that"_ Huntress replied smiling.

_"I think that's the first time I've seen you smile when I'm around"_ Kaine commented.

_"What can I say you're growing me"_ Huntress replied as she wrapped her arms around his neck so he could recommence his web-swinging.


	6. Past Transgressions

**Gotham**

"I could get used to this" Helena thought. Kaine was again swinging through the city and the feeling was incredible. _"I can see why you do this"_ she said, causing Kaine's red lenses to turn to her instead of the root ahead.

_"It's one of the few benefits of being me"_ he replied as he released the web and fell through the air.

_"Shouldn't you be watching where you're going?"_ Huntress asked, noticing his eyes were focused on her.

_"Nope, spider-sense"_ Kaine replied taping the side of his head briefly before shooting another webline.

_"Spider what?" _She asked confused.

_"Spider-sense. Its a handy little thing that warns me of danger. I can also use it to direct my web-lines without having to look"_ Kaine replied, keeping his eyes fixed on her he made a 360° turn in the air to emphasize his point.

_"Please don't do that again"_ Helena gasped in surprise as the world span. _"So you know what's going to happen before it does?"_

_"Not exactly. It warns me of the danger and tells me how to avoid it but it doesn't tell me what the danger is or where its coming from"_ Kaine explained as he came to an abrupt halt on a roof top.

_"Another problem?"_ Helena asked craning her neck and looking down to the street below. They had stopped quite few muggings and assaults since they left Kord and she was starting to loosen up.

_"No, I'm just hungry"_ Kaine explained. Before she could say anything else Kaine disappeared off the side of the building then reappeared a few seconds later carrying a pizza box. _"Don't worry I didn't steal it. I snagged it off the counter with a webline and left a few notes to cover it"_ he explained as sat on the edge of the building.

Helena hesitated before walking over and sitting beside him.

_"Feels good to be out of that thing"_ Kaine breathed as he pulled his mask off. _"So why did you get into this?"_ Kaine asked as he opened the pizza box.

_"My family where killed"_ Huntress replied, as Kaine offered her some of the food.

_"I'm sorry"_ Kaine replied watching as Huntress toyed with the slice in her hand before putting it to her mouth.

_"How about you?"_ she asked, looking Kaine in the eyes. Kaine thought for a while before replying. For obvious reasons he couldn't tell her the whole truth but he could twist it.

_"I never had any parents"_ he began _"and for a long time I was a bad guy._" Helena looked at him in surprise when he said this. _"I moved from place to place not staying for very long. Normally leaving a trail of blood and misery in my wake. If you'd seen me this time last year I guarantee you would be trying to stop me killing someone"_ Kaine finished, looking over the city.

_"What changed?"_ Huntress asked, gently. She hadn't realized the past behind this man it but explained the darkness that seemed to hang over him.

_"I spent a lot of my time hunting someone I thought was responsible for my suffering or so my sick mind led me to believe. Turns out he was the one who saved me"_ Kaine replied.

_"Sick mind?"_ Huntress asked confused.

_"Believe me lady if you'd met me a while back you'd understand, for all intents and purposes I was insane"_ Kaine confessed as he took another bite of pizza.

_"Wow and I thought my childhood was bad"_ Helena replied, stunned.

"At least you had one" Kaine thought. "At least you're not a copy or a failed experiment." _"It wasn't so bad. At least I got to choose my own name"_ Kaine replied, trying to lighten the situation but it seemed to have the opposite effect.

_"You didn't even have a name?"_ Huntress replied horrified. She couldn't help but wonder what monster could have caused a child to lose its parents and not even have a name.

_"Well I didn't turn out to bad though did I?"_ Kaine replied jokily.

_"Helena."_

_"What?"_ Kaine asked turning his head away from the city lights back to her.

_"My name is Helena Bertinelli"_ Huntress said taking her large eye-mask off. Kaine had always wondered what the point was in eye-masks. It's not like they hid much but the face that greeted him looked different to what he had imagined so obviously they did do some kind of job. She had long black hair that framed her perfectly cut feminine face and bright blue eyes that seemed to dig into him.

_"Are you ok?"_ she asked, surprised by his silence. Kaine tore his eye's away from her lips, for some reason he been focused on them.

_"Yes I'm fine_" he replied, turning to look back out over the city. "_It's just I'm not very proud of what I did in the past. Its not a subject I like talking about."_

_"It doesn't matter what you've done, it's what you do now that will define you"_ Helena said comfortingly, putting a hand on his shoulder.

_"I hope you're right"_ Kaine replied as he finished another slice of pizza and stood up.

* * *

><p>When the Scarlet Spider and Huntress got back it was about 11pm. Oracle instantly noticed that Helena seemed a lot less jumpy and wary of Kaine's company than she had previously been.<p>

_"Fancy that beer now?"_ Hawk asked, turning to Kaine.

_"Sure, after an evening of taking out the trash I could do with something"_ Kaine replied as he began pulling his civilian clothes over his suit.

_"We could go to one of the nightclubs to see if one of the informants turns up. Kill two birds with one stone"_ Dove suggested.

_"Its all about work with you guys isn't it?"_ Kaine sighed as he went to his room to get his shoes.

_"Pretty much"_ Helela replied as she reappeared clad in a purple dress that clung to her, dragging Kaine's attention to her athletic form. He quickly tore his eyes away and followed the other Birds out the door. Apart from Barbara who decided to stay behind and help with logistics.

When they arrived at the nightclub Kaine and Hank went straight to the bar to get a drink and the women held back surveying the people in the club.

_"So how are you finding Gotham?"_ Hawk shouted trying to make himself heard over the sound of the music as he handed Kaine a glass of something questionable.

_"Well its different"_ Kaine replied, not really sure how to respond.

_"I agree it's a little daunting if you've never been here before but you get used to it after some time"_ Hawk replied taking a drink. Kaine did the same feeling the familiar burning sensation as the alcohol flowed down his throat.

_ "I noticed you're not as bitchy with Kaine anymore"_ Dinah said turning to Huntress.

_"I may have misjudged him"_ Helena replied taking a sip of the cocktail she had in her hand.

_"I see your dress had the desired effect"_ Blackhawk commented, raising an eyebrow as she remembered catching the look Kaine had given Huntress back at Kord.

_"What do you mean?"_ Huntress asked suspiciously.

_"Well the last time I saw you dressed up was when you were going out with that Cat guy"_ Blackhawk replied suggestively.

_"What are you inferring?"_ Helena growled taking the drink away from her mouth.

_"That maybe you might have a thing for him?"_ Zinda pressed.

_"Listen I'll admit that that I was to hasty to judge him and that I over-reacted but now that I'm suddenly getting along with him you think I might have a 'thing' for him? That's stupid"_ Huntress replied curtly. For some reason she didn't like Zinda insinuating she did.

_"Thing for who?"_

The women turned coming face to face with Kid Devil and Ravager.

_"Eddie? Rose? What are you doing here?"_ Dinah asked surprised.

_"Same thing as you I'll bet"_ Rose replied, pushing a lock of platinum hair out of her eyes.

_"Well we aren't completely here on business"_ Blackhawk replied. _"Hawk wanted to take Kaine for a drink. Some kind of male bonding thing I guess."_

Ravager turned her attention to the bar and spied both Hawk and Kaine chatting.

* * *

><p><em>"So who's Dove? Your wife?"<em> Kaine asked looking at Hank.

_"No just a friend"_ Hawk replied as he ordered another drink. _"What about you? Are you married? Girlfriend?"_ Hawk asked picking up the glass the bartender placed infront of him.

_"I don't really have a great track record where that's concerned"_ Kaine replied, looking at the amber colored liquid in his glass. This was true, apart from his memories of Gwen Stacy there were only two other women he'd had any true kind of romantic connection with. One had been a women called Shannon. A mutant who had saved him from a group of people who planned to use him in some kind of sick betting game. He'd lost her when she had stayed behind to distract Ben Reilly who was Spider-man at the time due to Peter Parkers temporary loss of his powers. He had no idea where she was now. Whether she was in prison or out living her life somewhere else.

The other woman was the one he'd actually debated giving up his life for. Her name was Louise Kennedy. She was police officer he'd met her while hunting Reilly in Salt Lake city. Back then he'd been a monster, killing anything that got in his way. When he'd met her he remembered feeling like she was the only thing keeping him anywhere near the good side. Then he'd found out she was working for an organization that had kidnapped a child. The same child Ben Reilly had been trying to save.

When he'd found out the only thing that had been keeping him even slightly on the righteous side was a lie. His sick mind snapped and he attacked the organization with everything he had. Eventually he found Kennedy and crushed the life out of her.

Ben Reilly had tried to stop him. He could still hear his 'brother's' words ringing in his ears and his hands desperately trying to throw Kaine off the woman. _"Don't do this! If you do it there's no going back!"_ but he hadn't listened. Instead he killed the only person he ever truly cared about and beat Ben to a bloody pulp for good measure.

Hawk noticed Kaine instantly darken and decided to avoid that subject.

_"Well there's always the here and now. Even if it's nothing serious it might be worth keeping an eye out"_ Hawk replied giving Kaine a playful nudge.

_"Probably best to stay away from serious"_ Kaine agreed, downing the glass.

_"Can I buy you another?"_

Kaine turned to find a tall brunette looking at him interestedly.

_"What was I just saying"_ Hawk said winking at him. Kaine debated for a minute he didn't really feel like talking to someone he didn't know.

_"Hey there's no need to worry I've got a friend who's interested in your buddy"_ the woman said leaning on the bar next to him.

* * *

><p><em>"Someone's hitting on them already"<em> Dinah commented turning her attention briefly away from the group to Kaine and Hank. Helena peared over her shoulder at the two women currently talking with Kaine and Hawk.

_"Some women will go for anything"_ she muttered, turning back to her drink.

_"Oh come off it Helena"_ Dove replied looking at her friend.

_"What?"_ Huntress growled back.

_"What was your first impression of Kaine without his mask? Say you didn't know him or anything about him"_ Dove continued forcefully.

_"Well immature and reckless springs to mind"_ Helena replied sourly.

_"Ok, Rose what was your first impression of him?" _Dawn asked.

Ravager turned her head upon hearing her name. _"Ermm...well tall, dark and handsome I guess summed up my initial opinion"_ Ravager replied sheepishly, causing Eddie to chuckle.

Dove turned back to Helena giving her an odd look.

"Are_ you going somewhere with this?"_ Helena sighed taking another sip of her drink.

_"Well he's got the mysterious thing going on and you guys had a kind of bonding experience earlier maybe…."_

_"Will you drop it already! I swear if you finish that sentence I'll accidently shoot you on our next mission"_ Huntress said glaring daggers at Dawn.

_"So you're not interested?"_ Rose asked looking at Helena curiously.

_"No, he's a friend nothing more"_ Huntress replied bluntly.

_"Good to know"_ Ravager said as she left the group and began walking towards Kaine and Hank.

* * *

><p><em>"Look I don't mean to be rude or anything but.." <em>Kaine began. He was trying to think of a way to turn down the girl without being an ass.

_"There you are honey!"_ Rose interrupted putting herself between Kaine and the woman. Ravager lent in and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. Kaine stood frozen not quite sure what was going on. Hank's mouth dropped open in shock. The group behind them was also looking on in surprise at Ravager's boldness. Except Helena who turned back to her drink as soon as Rose's lips had made contact.

The brunette muttered something under her breath and walked away.

_"Your welcome"_ Rose said breaking the kiss and winking. Kaine's arm shot out grabbing Ravager by the shoulder violently.

_"If you ever touch me again I swear I'll break every bone in your body!"_ he growled.

Rose suddenly felt a little nervous. Those eyes truly where terrifying when angry. Quickly she composed herself. _"Oh c'mon it was blatantly obvious you were going to turn her down. I just sped up the process"_ she replied pushing Kaine's hand off her. _"Besides I thought we cleared the whole trying to kill you thing up? Why are you still jumpy?"_

Kaine sighed he knew it wasn't her fault. He just had issues with people who tried to use him and he was having a hard time with the whole forgive and forget deal. _"What are you doing here anyway? And where's your horned pal?"_ he asked irritatedly.

_"We're looking for the informant again and Eddie is over there"_ she replied curtly pointing towards Kid Devil who was wearing the same image inducer he'd worn the night before. Devil raised his hand and waved nervously as Kaine's eyes fell on him. _"Two's company, three's a crowd"_ Kaine said finishing his drink and began heading towards the toilets.

As he approached the swing doors. Kaine saw a sign saying that said that the men's toilet was out of order. Ignoring it he pushed the door open, to his surprise he found a woman and a man talking to one another in low voices. The man was dressed in bartending clothes and the woman was dressed in casually. They both turned in surprise as Kaine entered.

_"Oi buddy can't you read?"_ the man said approaching. As he approached Kaine noticed the woman quickly hide something behind her back.

"Looks like I found the informant" he thought as the man began yelling at him. As the woman was about to push past both of them to leave Kaine struck the bartender in the face knocking him unconscious and quickly grabbed the woman by the throat. He Lifted her off the floor and pinned her against the wall of the bathroom. She looked at Kaine in shock, completely taken by surprise. Reaching into her jacket pocket Kaine pulled out the package she had been trying to hide and placed it in his own pocket.

_"Who are you?"_ he growled tightening his grip making the woman to choke slightly. Then she lashed out kicking him in the jaw, causing him to stumble back slightly and lose his grip on her neck. Kaine watched as woman brought her arms behind her back and heard a small clinking sound as if something was snapping into place. When she brought her arms back into view a long blade was attached to each one.

_"I think the question is who the fuck are you?"_ she growled rushing forward. The woman lashed out with the blades but to her surprise Kaine was no longer where he had been standing. Kaine's hand shot out grabbing her wrist from behind. He pulled back sharply snapping her wrist. The woman snarled breathing in sharply at the pain but she didn't scream. Instead she spun on herself aiming a blow at his stomach but again Kaine was already gone and her blade cut thin air. As she turned she found Kaine was standing infront of her again. She swung her uninjured arm at him but Kaine's stinger sprouted from his wrist deflecting the blade.

_"Who are you?"_ he asked again as he drove the stinger into the womans leg causing paralysis to set in. Kaine quickly grabbed both the blades, snapped them from the straps that secured the to her arms and tossed them aside. Although she couldn't move and only had one working arm she took another swing at him with her remaining undamaged arm. Kaine caught the blow in his left hand and with his right quickly delivered two blows. One to the inside of her elbow and one into her left flank. The woman didn't even cry out as she slumped to the floor.

The bartender had come around and was currently staring horrified at the unnatural angles that woman's hand and elbow where in. Kaine approached him and he backed up against the wall clearly terrified.

_"Listen to me very carefully"_ Kaine said calmly. _"If you ever supply drugs here again I'll come back and when I do, I'll make what happened to her look like a day at the beach. Do you understand me?" _The man nodded quickly.

With that Kaine released him and the bartender quickly ran out. He turned back to the woman who was lying limply on the floor. Then he noticed blood trickling from her mouth.

"Shit" he thought picking her up quickly. He must have punctured one of her lungs when he struck her in the flank if he didn't get help she could drown in her own blood. He carried her out of the bathroom and quickly made his way towards the birds trying his best to make it seem like he was a friend helping out his drunk passed out friend.

_"Wow isn't that the third one this evening?"_ Dove said jokily as he approached. Her demeanour changed instantly as she saw the blood trickling onto the floor.

_"Who the fuck is this?"_ Kaine asked, pulling the woman's head up by her hair.

_"Her name's Scandal"_ Dinah replied recognizing the woman immediately.

_"She's you informant"_ Kaine replied, turning to leave the club before any civilains noticed her state and called the police.

* * *

><p><strong>Kord Tower<strong>

_"Jeez Kaine!"_ Oracle breathed after she'd finished fixing Scandal up. _"A broken wrist, broken elbow, nerve damage in her legs, a punctured lung and 3 shattered ribs. Did you need to go that far?"_ she asked.

_"Yeah man, you really did a number on her. I'm all for beating the bad guys but that's pretty brutal"_ Kid Devil said, looking slightly horrified at the bandages covering Scandal's body.

_"She's a bad guy right? She's lucky I just didn't kill her and be done with it"_ Kaine replied coldly looking at Scandal who was still unconscious and strapped to a stretcher. The group gave each other nervous glances. Even Huntress and Ravager where slightly taken aback.

Just then Scandal's eyes flickered open and she began struggling against her restraints._ "Don't bother you can't get out. I secured them myself"_ Ravager said smiling slightly.

_"Who's supplying this?"_ Oracle said holding the package Kaine had taken off Scandal infront of her.

_"I'm not telling you anything"_ Scandal snarled back.

_"I could make you talk"_ Kaine growled back.

Upon noticing Kaine a flicker of fear flashed across her face but it was quickly replaced by defiance. Before anyone could react Kaine's hand shot out grabbing her by the face and he began the mark. Scandal screamed as the burning sensation ripped through her skin.

Suddenly the birds and titans where on him. _"Let her go"_ Dinah shouted desperately, as she tried to prise Kaine's hand off.

_"She'll talk just back off a bit"_ Helena said in his ear. Kaine stopped the mark and pulled his hand away. Although he hadn't completed it the skin on her face was red and blood was seeping out in some areas.

_"What the hell did you do?"_ Ravager asked looking in shock at the mark.

_"Huntress, get Kaine out of here"_ Oracle demanded turning to Helena. Barbara didn't like having Kaine there at the moment. He was to unpredictable, he could snap Scandal's neck before any of them could blink and then they would have nothing.

Huntress grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out of the room.

_"Now you're going to tell us what we want to know. Who's supplying this?"_ Oracle asked curtly, glaring at Scandal who was still clutching her face in pain.

_"Don't bother. We both know there's nothing you can do to me"_ she growled back.

_"Tell us or I might decide to let Scarlet Spider have another crack at you"_ Oracle threatened, it was an empty threat but she was hoping it would do the trick. Scandal hesitated for a moment.

_"No you won't. You could have let him continue just now and you didn't so bite me bitch!"_ she snapped back.

* * *

><p><em>"Look we can't just kill her"<em> Helena said trying to reason with Kaine as she led him outside to get some air.

_"Why?"_ Kaine asked sourly as he lent against the side of Kord Tower.

This was a new experience for Helena, it was normally her on the receiving end of this conversation not the other way around.

"_We have to better than them. We're the hero's we have to set an example"_ she explained putting a hand on his shoulder.

_"Ok then answer me this. How many lives could I be saving if I killed her now instead of letting her walk?"_ Kaine growled looking Helena in the eyes.

"_We can't simply kill someone because of what we think they may do"_ Huntress replied hesitantly. What he was saying was so close to how she used to think.

_"Take off that fucking eye-mask look me in the eyes and tell me the world wouldn't be a safer place without her!"_ Kaine snarled quickly pulling the mask off Helena's face. Huntress looked him squarely in the eyes.

_"I can't say that"_ she replied, in a slightly defeated tone.

_"I thought so"_ Kaine muttered turning away.

_"But this isn't about her! This is about you! Killing without cause or proof will turn you into a monster"_ Helena said, reaching out and pulling him back round to face her.

_"If killing someone who will most likely go out and end some innocent persons life makes me a monster, i'll be that monster. It's still better than the last monster I was"_ Kaine replied gently pushing her hands away. _"Besides I don't remember referring to myself as a hero"_ he muttered as he turned to go back inside.


	7. The Secret Six

**Kord Tower**

It was about 1am as Scandal struggled against her bonds but it was no use. The injuries Kaine had caused weren't allowing her to break free. She needed to warn her superiors that the Birds Of Prey were on to them. Suddenly a pair of large red lenses appeared infront her causing her to freeze. Kaine stared at her through the darkness using the contrast of his costumes red eyes to try to un-nerve her. Quickly he placed his hand over Scandal's mouth.

_"Listen very carefully"_ he began calmly. _"The others are asleep. There is no-one who can stop me using whatever method I want to get you to talk so I suggest you start doing just that"_ he finished moving his hand away and pulling off his mask so she knew exactly who she was dealing with.

Scandal's breath caught in her throat. She knew nothing about this man or what he was capable of but his actions earlier and those dark eyes betrayed the killer in him. Scandal had nothing to fear from the Birds. They had rules a set of morals. They would probably interrogate her some more then put her in jail when she didn't talk. This guy on the other hand looked like he'd tear her limb from limb if she didn't tell him what he wanted to know.

_"Ok there's a warehouse by the docks. That's where cargo is arriving"_ Scandal began.

_"Street name? Warehouse number?"_ Kaine asked forcefully.

_"Warehouse 52. It's on Maylan street that runs down to the docks"_ she finished, hoping that this was enough to appease him.

_"How many of you are there at the dock?"_ Kaine asked, staring her in the eyes.

_"About dozen guards and the rest of my group"_ she replied, keeping a close eye on Kaine's hand in case he tried to burn her again.

_"Who's this group of yours?"_

_"It's comprised of six members including myself. Jeanette, Deadshot, Ragdoll, Catman and Bane"_ Scandal responded nervously as the Scarlet Spider pulled his mask back on. Kaine said nothing but melted back into the darkness. He had what he needed.

_"Well?"_ Barbara asked as he left the room.

_"She really thought I was gonna kill her and cracked pretty quick"_ Kaine replied. This had been Oracle's idea. Scandal knew that the Birds would never let Kaine hurt her so Oracle came up with the idea of pretending to let Kaine get her on his own to scare it out of her.

_"What did she tell you?"_

_"Something about a warehouse and a team consisting of six members called Jeanette, Ragdoll, Deadshot, Catman and some other guy I don't remember what she called him"_ Kaine replied.

_"Bane"_ Barbara replied guessing who the last member was.

_"Yeah that's right. They friends of yours?"_ Kaine asked sarcastically.

_"We've had run-ins with them a few times. They call themselves the Secret Six"_ Oracle replied thoughtfully.

_"Sounds like they should be running round after ghosts and solving mysteries"_ the Scarlet Spider replied snickering slightly.

_"They're a group of mercenaries and villains. I wonder what they have to do with this"_ Oracle replied thoughtfully.

_"We have another problem. We should move on the warehouse as soon as possible. When they realize that woman isn't coming back they'll guess she's been caught and move out quickly"_ Kaine replied turning his head to where their 'guest' was being kept.

_"Go get some sleep. They won't move out for at least a few hours we'll hit just before sunrise"_ Oracle said agreeing with him.

* * *

><p><em>"You think you're free of me? Don't make me laugh boy!"<em> the Jackal leered. _"I made you! You belong to me!"_ he continued, reaching out and grabbing Kaine by the neck.

Kaine shot up grabbing the figure infront of him, his stingers instantly erupting from his wrists. He pinned the figure beneath him on the other side of the bed placing the venomous points against the persons neck. As his vision began to clear he realized he was awake. Helena's blue eyes stared back at him nervously as the stinger pressed forcefully against her skin.

_"Sorry"_ Kaine said, retracting the weapons realizing the nightmare was over.

_"Bad dream?"_ she asked looking up at him.

_"Pretty much"_ Kaine replied rubbing his eyes. It was as he was wiping the sleep from his eyes Helena became conscious of his bare chest pressed against her.

_"Ahem"_ Huntress cleared her throat looking up at him awkwardly, a slight redness on her face. It was then Kaine also became aware of the position they were in and he quickly climbed off her.

_"So I guess I should be careful when I wake you next time"_ she said getting off the bed and taking a few deep breaths to try to compose herself. His chest pressed against her had sent Huntress's heart-rate into overdrive, causing her to become hot and flushed. Helena didn't like being out of control of anything, especially her own body so the involuntary reactions she was continuing to have around Kaine annoyed her no end.

_"Probably best"_ he replied getting up and stretching, oblivious to how flustered she was. _"What did you want anyway?"_

_"Its 6am we're going to make a move on the warehouse before sunrise. So get your suit on"_ Huntress said as she left the room quickly before he did notice.

* * *

><p><em>"So how are you guys getting there?"<em> Kaine asked, appearing in the main room clad in his suit a few moments later.

_"Don't worry we've got transport"_ Helena replied spinning motorcycle keys on her finger.

_"Here"_ Oracle began, approaching Kaine arm outstretched offering him a small device. Kaine took it from her hand and looked at it curiously. _"It's an earpiece. It'll allow you to stay in contact with me and the rest of the group"_ Barbara explained.

_"Thanks"_ Kaine muttered as he pushed the small object beneath his mask and into his ear.

_"Can you hear me?"_ Oracle said turning and speaking into a microphone.

_"Loud and clear"_ the Scarlet Spider responded as he made his way to the skylight. _"I'll meet you there!"_ he said as he lept from the ground through the opening.

Huntress watched him disappear slightly disappointedly. Generally speeding down the streets on the motorcycle was one of her favourite times during a mission but it paled in comparison to the adrenaline of web-swinging.

_"We better hurry. The speed he moves at he'll be there long before we are"_ Helena said shaking her head to snap herself from her thoughts.

* * *

><p>A few minutes later Kaine arrived at the warehouse. <em>"I'm there"<em> he whispered but still loud enough so Barbara would be able to hear him.

_"The others aren't far behind you. Just sit tight"_ Oracle's voice replied.

_"I'll take a look round see if there's a few guards that might need taking care of"_ Kaine replied as he swung onto the side of the warehouse and began crawling round the outside.

_"Ok but be careful"_ Oracle replied worriedly. She still didn't completely trust Kaine on his own. She was worried he might do something reckless. Kaine crawled along the wall silently but to his surprise he didn't see any guards at all. _"It's like a ghost town here"_ Kaine whispered as he scanned the area using his night-vision.

_"You think Scandal lied to you?"_ Barbara asked.

_"No she was to scared I'd break her neck to do that"_ the Scarlet Spider replied as he leapt onto one of the large containers outside the warehouse.

_"Maybe they moved out when Scandal didn't return?"_ Oracle suggested.

_"No they didn't"_ Kaine replied as he noticed something laying on the floor. _"Someone's got here first"_ he replied as he approached the unconscious form's lying on the floor. From Their attire Kaine guessed he must have been guards. As he began to look around he came across more guards all tied up and unconscious._ "The guards are all out cold we've got company. I'm going in"_ Kaine said into the microphone.

_"Wait the other are almost at your location"_ Oracle replied forcefully.

Ignoring her Kaine climbed to the highest window. Pushing it open he crawled along the ceiling of the warehouse. Luckily it was still quite dark and he was able to blend into the shadows easily. Boxes lay broken and strewn across the floor. "Obviously there's been a tussle" he thought looking at the mess. Suddenly he heard a soft thudding noise. Turning his head in its direction he began to follow it. Kaine's search led him to a door. He pushed himself flush against the wall and peered in through one of the cracks in the wooden panels. There were 6 people all dressed in costumes. One of them was tied to a chair and being severely beaten by one of the other five.

_"It was stupid of you to come here Bat-boy"_ Bane growled grabbing Nightwing by his hair and striking him again. _"Now I'm going to ask you one more time. What did you do with Scandal?"_

Grayson spat some blood onto the floor before replying. _"Even if I knew what you were talking about I wouldn't tell you but I haven't been anywhere near Scandal I found my way here following one of your clients."_

_"You really expect us to believe that?"_ Catman asked.

_"Don't bother he won't talk."_

The Scarlet Spider turned his gaze and noticed another figure at the other end of the room. The figure was shrouded by the shadows but by his build Kaine could tell it was a man.

_"Who are you?"_ Grayson asked also finally noticing the other man. He recognized the man's voice but he couldn't quite put his finger on where he'd heard it.

_"Kill him and we'll move out"_ the stranger said as he turned his back on the group and left through a door at the back.

"Shit" Kaine thought as he saw one of the group produce a knife and hand it to Bane. He didn't know who this man was but he wasn't going to stand by and let those people kill him. Quickly he engaged his invisibility and pushed the door open slowly. Some of them turned as it creaked open.

_"I thought you shut that?"_ Ragdoll said turning to Catman.

_"Probably the wind or something this place is ancient"_ Catman replied before turning back to Nightwing. Bane plunged the knife towards Nightwing's chest but to his shock his arm was held back by an invisible force.

The Scarlet Spider took this opportunity to disarm Bane by pushing his arm to the side and struck him in the head sending him flying backwards. The Scarlet Spider quickly grabbed the fallen knife and cut the bonds around the prisoners wrists, disengaging his invisibility now that the element of surprise was gone.

_"Who the fuck are you?"_ Deadshot asked in surprise as the Scarlet Spider materialized in front of them.

Nightwing quickly got to his feet looking at Kaine curiously. _"Thanks for the assist"_ he said as he quickly leapt at Catman. Kaine followed suit leaping over Deadshot as he began to take aim whilst narrowly avoiding a swipe from Ragdoll from behind. As he span through the air he shot a webline from his left wrist snagging Ragdoll. When he landed he pulled back hard on the strand pulling Ragdoll into Deadshot and causing them both to fly into a wall.

_"What the hell is going?"_ Oracle demanded as she heard the noise.

_"Fighting. Can't talk now"_ the Scarlet Spider replied as Bane stepped in front of him.

_"I told you to wait for the others!"_ Oracle snapped.

_"Didn't have a choice they were about to turn some guy into mince-meat"_ Kaine replied as Bane took a swing at him. The Scarlet Spider didn't even bother to move and Bane's blow hit him on the chest. _"Sorry. You'll have to do better than that"_ Kaine growled as he quickly encased Bane in a cocoon of webbing.

As he began to turn away the webbing began to shudder until it split and Bane emerged. It was then Kaine noticed the pipes pumping a green liquid into the man's body.

_"This better?"_ Bane smirked as his muscles began to grow exponentially.

"Ok, I hadn't expected that" the Scarlet Spider thought looking at the muscle bound man in front of him. Bane picked up one of the large crates in the room a launched it full force at Kaine. The Scarlet Spider swatted it aside with one hand sending it careering into Ragdoll who was in the process of getting back to his feet. Kaine landed in front of Bane and struck him hard in the flank. The giant was knocked back a few feet but didn't fall over and retaliated by punching Kaine in the face. "He's still not as strong as me but his durability is pretty damn high" Kaine thought rubbing his jaw.

_"Who's your new friend?"_ Catman asked as he dodged a blow from Nightwing.

_"Not one of mine but after this he damn well might be"_ Dick replied falling into a crouch and kicking Catman's legs out from beneath him.

Suddenly a bolt came out of nowhere striking Bane in the shoulder. Kaine turned to see the Birds Of Prey burst into the room.

_"He's mine"_ Huntress growled pushing Nightwing aside and attacking her former lover.

_"So how have you been?"_ Catman smirked dodging as Helena's fist swung in his direction.

_"I'll feel a lot better very soon"_ Helena snarled catching his fist and pulling herself towards him. As soon as she was close enough she grabbed his shoulder and drove her knee into his crutch. Catman crumpled to the floor in pain.

_"Now that's not really fair play is it?"_ Nightwing said smiling slightly.

Kaine and Bane began trading blows. Kaine couldn't be bothered to dodge any of them and to be honest he didn't want to. The pain made him feel alive and the more Bane struck him, the more he found himself losing control. Suddenly he stopped pulling punches completely and lashed out punching Bane in the stomach. The man was lifted off his feet by the full 25tons of strength Kaine sent coursing through him and sent crashing upwards through the roof. The Scarlet Spider turned searching for the next opponent to attack, his eyes completely clouded by bloodlust. Kaine launched himself at Deadshot avoiding the bullets easily. Landing in front of the assassin he grabbed him by the neck and began to squeeze.

_"Enough!"_ Jeanette screamed, taking on her banshee form.

_"COVER YOUR EARS"_ Dinah shouted remembering the woman's ability. It was too late the scream emitted throughout the room. The Birds and Nightwing fell to the floor in pain as the sound coupled with visions of Jeanette's gruesome death entered their minds. Kaine although unaffected by the noise due to his suit was not unaffected by the visions she planted in his head. This was enough to snap him out of his bloodlust though, as he dropped Deadshot and turned to face the woman. Jeanette increased the intensity of her scream in attempt to stop Kaine. The Scarlet Spider faltered slightly but he didn't stop moving. He lept towards her grabbing her by the face and placing his hand over her mouth to halt the scream.

_"How is my ability not effecting you?"_ she snarled from beneath his hand.

_"So you got murdered by a guy who couldn't swing an axe properly, big deal"_ Kaine spat the images still playing in his head. _"That's absolutely nothing compared to what was done to me. Come back when you've spent years of your life gradually dying cell by cell in agony and maybe i'll take pity on you"_ he snarled smashing her head against the wall and causing her to blackout. As the Scarlet Spider turned he realized the rest of his team seemed to have passed out from the pain.

_"Intriguing!"_

The Scarlet Spider turned and saw the man dressed in black he'd noticed earlier looking at him curiously.

_"I don't think I've ever seen you before"_ the stranger continued stepping out of the shadows and removing the black cloak. Kaine looked at the man in front of him, the costume he was wearing was very familiar. _"So what are you a mercenary? A vigilante?"_ the stranger asked, unsheathing a sword strapped to his back.

_"Neither"_ the Scarlet Spider replied as he looked his opponent up and down. It was then he recognized the costume. It was almost exactly the same as Ravager's.

_"You interest me"_ Deathstroke said looking Kaine up and down._ "But business is business"_ he finished pointing the blade at the Scarlet Spider.

Slade lunged forward attempting to take Kaine's head from his shoulders. Kaine arched his back and watched through his red lenses as the blade passed in front of his eyes. He shot a webline from each wrist and snagged onto an iron girder on the ceiling above. Pulling down hard he dislodged the lump of metal. Slade only just avoided the girder as it hit the ground where he'd been standing. Kaine lunged at him spinning to avoid another lung from the sword. Grabbing Slade's wrist as he span, he caught the blade with his freehand and snapped the metal easily. Slade jumped back throwing the useless sword to the floor. They both looked at each other, trying to figure out what the other was about to do.

_"Who trained you?"_ Deathstroke asked, eyeing Kaine. _"Your fighting style is unlike anything I've seen. It lacks discipline but still its very unusual."_

Kaine didn't reply and simply lunged forward aiming a punch at Deathstrokes flank. The assassins dodged it expertly and span on his heel countering with a kick aimed at the Scarlet Spider's neck. To his surprise his blow cut through nothing but air as Kaine changed his movement in mid-air and landed behind him in a crouched position. The Scarlet Spider swung round with his foot taking Deathstoke off his feet and the mercenary fell backwards before rolling back onto his feet.

"What the hell is this?" Slade thought looking at Kaine. "The way he moves. It's not like Batman's or Cassandra's. They move like a solo artist singing perfectly. A single movement I can follow but he's moving like a choir. There's too many voices, to many movements for me to follow."

Kaine noticed his distraction and took advantage of it by leaping into the air, spinning over Slade's head and snagging his foot with a webline in the process. As he landed he pulled up tripping the mercenary. The Scarlet Spider took this opportunity to jump on top of Slade, stingers extended. As he drove one of the stingers into the man's arm he felt Slade strike him in his own. Deathstroke kicked the Scarlet Spider in the stomach propelling him off. Kaine span in the air and landed on the wall behind him. It was then he realized the mercenary must have hit him with a nerve strike as the arm he had struck was completely numb and hung limply at his side. Slade got to his feet, the arm Kaine had stung also hanging uselessly in the air.

"I can't win this in an all-out fight" Slade thought looking at his opponent. He didn't have enough knowledge on him or his abilities. It was time for plan B. Kaine watched as Deathstroke pulled something out of one of the pouches on his belt. The mercenary quickly placed the gas mask over his mouth and pressed a button on his belt. The room instantly began filling with an odourless gas. The Scarlet Spider realized what he was doing all too late and he fell to the floor as the sleeping gas took effect.


	8. Tests

**Kord Tower**

Kaine shot up but found his hands securely fasten to the side of the stretcher he was laying on. He remembered passing out and thought for a moment he'd been captured. Then he saw Oracle next to him checking his pulse.

_"What's with the shackles?"_ Kaine asked pulling them off.

_"Well Helena said you're a bit jumpy when you wake up. So I thought I'd secure you, to stop you hurting yourself or us"_ Barbara replied, pulling the device from his arm.

_"What happened? When we regained consciousness the remaining secret six had disappeared and you were out cold"_ Dinah asked as she entered the medical ward followed by the rest of the Birds and Nightwing.

_"Well after you guys where knocked out some guy jumped me and we had a brief fight before he filled the room with some sort of gas"_ Kaine replied checking to make sure he still had his mask and costume on. He did, obviously the Birds had respected him enough to let him decide who he wanted and who he didn't want to see his face.

_"Why didn't you wait for my signal?"_ Oracle asked slightly annoyed.

_"I told you. They were about to put a few holes in Bat-boy here"_ Kaine replied gesturing to Nightwing.

_"The name's Nightwing and thanks for the save"_ Dick muttered.

_"God you really are stupid!"_ Oracle growled, turning to Dick and throwing a book at him.

_"Ouch! What was that for?"_ Dick replied indignantly as the book struck him on the left temple.

_"Almost getting yourself killed!"_ Barbara snapped. It was as Barbara turned Kaine noticed the bump on her head.

_"What happened to you? I thought you stayed behind"_ he asked curiously.

_"Somehow Scandal got lose and clocked me over the head"_ Oracle replied darkly.

_"So we've lost our prisoner then"_ Kaine muttered.

_"What did this guy look like?"_ Ravager asked changing the topic.

Kaine turned his head to her. He hadn't noticed Rose behind the others. _"Well as a matter of fact he was dressed just like you are"_ the Scarlet Spider replied getting to his feet. He noticed the room instantly darkened at his description. _"Wow, I guess this guy isn't very popular"_ Kaine continued stretching his previously paralyzed arm.

_"His name is Deathstroke"_ Nightwing explained _"He's a mercenary and a pretty dangerous one at that. He was augmented using a super-soldier serum."_

_"A super-soldier who's a mercenary huh? Shoulda called him the Anti-Cap"_ Kaine muttered.

_"What was that?"_ Ravager asked, not quite making out what he'd said.

_"Nothing. So how come this guy is dressed like you?"_ the Scarlet Spider questioned, turning his red lenses back to Rose.

_"He's my father"_ she replied quietly.

_"Oh…er…sorry"_ Kaine replied not really sure how to respond to that. Just then a small object began vibrating in one of Ravager's many belt pockets.

_"Hold on a sec"_ Rose said pulling the phone from her pocket and answering it. _"What do you mean we're returning to the main base?"_ Ravager yelled into the phone. _"It's Slade. He's part of this as well we can't just leave."_ There was a pause while Ravager listen to the other person reply. _"Well I don't care if you think the Birds Of Prey can handle it!"_ she replied curtly.

The others could just hear Tim's frustrated voice from the other end of the telephone. _"Oh I'm to personally connected to this am I? I'd like to be able see things from your point of view but I can't seem to get my head that far up my ass"_ Rose shouted angrily.

_"Wow, she's got a temper"_ Blackhawk said watching the telephone conversation with slight amusement. Ravager hung up and pushed the phone back into her pocket.

_"Looks like you've got a new member"_ Rose stated turning to the Birds.

_"Wait what?"_ Oracle asked turning to Ravager in confusion.

_"Tim wants to leave and go back to the main base but now I know Slade's involved I'm staying! He wanted to leave you guys to handle it but I want in too"_ she replied.

_"Oh great"_ Kaine muttered under his breath.

_"Who rattled your cage?"_ Rose quipped glaring at him.

_"Who opened yours?"_ the Scarlet Spider retorted.

_"Well although this would probably turn out to be very amusing I have a few things to take care of"_ Nightwing commented as he left before a fight broke out _"Thanks again for the save. I owe you."_

_"Kaine how about we run those tests now?"_ Oracle said hastily leading him out of the room.

_"Tests?"_ Kaine replied confused.

_"Yes. Remember I said I wanted to run a few tests to assess your abilities. I was going to give you a day to recover but all the brusies you acquired have already gone"_ Barbara said as she led him down the corridor.

_"Oh this I've got to see"_ Ravager said following them from behind along with the others.

"Oh great" Oracle thought. She'd hoped to get Kaine on his own so he could focus.

_"You guys have an Olympic sized gym in here?"_ Kaine gasped wide eyed as he was led into the giant gymnasium.

_"Unfortunately not all of us have a superhuman metabolism that keeps us at peak fitness without even exercising. Unlike some people"_ Zinda commented from behind him.

_"Fair point"_ the Scarlet Spider replied. He hadn't really thought about it but this was true. He'd never really trained a day in his life and yet his level of fitness didn't deteriorate. _"Ok so what do you want me to do?"_ Kaine asked turning to Oracle.

_"First I want to measure your strength. This machine will add weight and you simply tell me when you can't hold out any longer"_ Barbara said as Kaine laid on the machine and grabbed the dumbbell like object.

_"1ton"_ Oracle said as she pressed a button.

_"Nope can't even feel it"_ the Scarlet Spider replied, using a single hand to emphasize his point.

_"2tons"_ Oracle continued.

_"Nothing. You might want to increase it by more than one each time or we'll be here all day"_ Kaine replied still only using one hand.

_"5tons"_

_"Nope"_

_"8tons"_

_"Nada"_

_"10tons"_

_"Starting to feel it now!"_

_"15tons"_

_"Yep feeling the weight"_ Kaine replied placing his other hand on the object.

Ravager looked on dumbfounded. She hadn't realized the amount of strength he actually possessed. It really put into perspective how easily he could have killed her and Eddie that night if he'd wanted to.

_"20tons"_

Sweat began to trickle down Kaine's forehead as the device became heavier.

_"25tons"_ Oracle said, setting the device to Kaine's supposed limit.

_"Yeah I think that's me done"_ Kaine replied through gritted teeth as his arms began to shake under the pressure. Oracle stopped the test and the Scarlet Spider sat back up.

_"Yep you were right. 25tons is your limit. Well 25.4tons to be completely accurate"_ Barbara said as she looked at the numbers on her computer.

_"What next?"_ Kaine asked taking a few deep breaths.

_"See that circuit over there"_ Oracle replied pointing to the mass of gymnastic obstacles. _"Do that as fast as you can. I mean completely flat out."_

The Scarlet Spider leapt at the course as soon as Oracle started the timer and kicked himself into high-gear. When he fought, he tended to rely more on brute force than his 'brother' Peter did. So getting back in touch with his spider-like speed and agility felt a little strange to him.

Helena watched as he made his way across the course at breakneck speed. She already knew what to expect as she'd experience it first hand when they had gone out patrolling but seeing him focused from a distance was different and really highlighted the fact that he was far beyond human capabilities. Some of his movements where so fast and so agile it made quite a few villains she'd fought in the past look like they were standing still.

_"Is that your limit?"_ Oracle asked as Kaine reappeared beside her breathless and sweating.

_"I haven't done this in a while. Give me a minute and I'll give it another shot"_ he panted. Near the end of the course he had started to get into a rhythm and he felt he could go a little faster.

_"Whenever you're ready"_ Barbara said as he approached the course again.

_"Ok go"_ Kaine replied signalling for her to start the timer. The improvement was incredible. This time Helena couldn't even follow him. All she could see was a red blur speeding through and around the obstacles. At one point he disappeared from her view altogether and appeared a few meters away.

This time when he stopped, Kaine was completely worn out and he propped himself up against the wall for support. "How the hell does Parker do that all the time?" he thought as he tried to catch his breath. He guessed it must be because Peter used his speed and agility on a daily basis. Perhaps If he put a little more effort into his speed and agility and less into brute force he could eventually catch Peter up.

_"I'll have to do some calculations as I'm not sure my camera's were able to capture enough frames"_ Oracle said as she looked in astonishment at the video on the computer. Even slowed down on the PC the cameras still hadn't captured all of Kaine's movements.

_"What about your spider-sense? Shouldn't we test that"_ Helena said looking at Kaine curiously.

_"Spider-sense?"_ Oracle asked confused.

_"It's a sort of precognition that warns me of danger"_ the Scarlet Spider explained. This was one of his abilities he knew exactly how to text. _"Do any of you have something I can use as a blind-fold?"_ he asked pulling off his mask.

_"Here"_ Zinda replied throwing him a T-shirt that was laying over one of the many machines. Kaine caught the fabric and tied it over his face.

_"Ravager throw those knives on your belt at me"_ he said to Rose who turned to Oracle unsure whether to obey or not.

_"Do it"_ Oracle confirmed a little nervously. Rose pulled the knife from her belt an threw it directly at Kaine. The silver blade span through the air straight towards Kaine's face. For a moment Helena's stomach lurched as it looked like Kaine wouldn't have time to dodge. A small smile crept across his face, he moved his head with lighting speed and the blade struck the wall behind him.

_"C'mon at least give me a challenge. Throw like you mean it"_ the Scarlet Spider replied cockily.

Rose now knowing he could dodge them, began throwing multiple knives in his direction but try as she might she couldn't land a scratch on him. Every time the blade threatened to hit him he moved aside with blurring reflexes.

_"I'm out of knives"_ Rose said sheepishly after a few minutes, looking at all the pointed objects stuck in the wall behind Kaine.

This ability intrigued Barbara. She'd never seen anything quite like it. She'd seen Cassandra and Deathstroke use body language to predict their opponents attacks but this was different. He actually knew for sure where the blows would land. The potential this unlocked was huge. If Kaine could learn proper form and martial arts, that combined with his strength and speed would make him incredibly deadly.

_"How was that?"_ Kaine asked smugly taking off the blind fold.

_"Pretty amazing. What happens when your spider-sense goes off? Does it tell you what's going to happen?"_ Hawk asked looking at the Scarlet Spider.

_"No, I just get this tingling in my head. Sort of like pins and needles and I instantly know how to avoid the attack. Even if I don't know what it is or where it's coming from"_ Kaine replied.

_"Ok I think that's mainly everything covered"_ Oracle said as she tapped away on her laptop.

_"I'm going to go take a shower then"_ Kaine stated as he turned to leave.

_"Wait before you go I just remembered something else I'd like to test."_

The Scarlet Spider turned back to the red-head curiously.

_"Your venom"_ she explained gesturing to his wrists. On Kaine's mental command the pointed objects sprouted from his arms. Oracle took a tissue from her bag and wiped it across the tip of one of the spear like objects. _"Also I'd like to take a blood sample if that's ok"_ Orcale finished as she placed the tissue into a small container.

_"I guess that's ok"_ Kaine replied as he pulled one of Ravagers knives from the wall and sliced his arm.

_"I meant in a syringe. You didn't have to cut yourself open"_ Barbara gasped as she wiped away the blood with another tissue.

_"That way is quicker. Besides in a few hours it'll be completely gone"_ Kaine replied simply as he left the gymnasium and went to his room.

He got into the shower and stayed there for an hour and a half letting the hot water run down his skin. Getting out of the shower he grabbed a towel, dried himself and changed into his civilian clothes. As he left the room he almost bumped straight into Ravager. She was dressed in a pair of very short jogging shorts that came above her knees and a jogging shirt that clung to her tightly, not leaving much to the imagination.

_"You've been exercising all this time?"_ Kaine asked as he noticed the sweat dripping down her skin.

_"Yep flat out without any breaks. As Blackhawk said earlier some of us actually have to stay in shape"_ Rose replied drying her long platinum hair on the towel she was holding. _"I'll be doing another round in about 3 hours. Why don't you join in? I'd be interested to put you through a few exercises of my own"_ Rose finished, running her finger across his chest and winking at him suggestively before continuing on her way.

_"I'm sure she's going to be a laugh to work with"_ Kaine thought sarcastically as he watched her walk away.

_"Kaine would you come with me for a few minutes?"_

He turned to see Oracle wheeling down the corridor towards him.

_"Sure what is it?"_ Kaine asked curiously.

_"I thought you might want to see the test results"_ Barbara replied leading him towards the lab. _"I got some very interesting information"_ she continued shutting the door behind him. _"Your venom is particularly interesting."_

_"How so?"_ Kaine asked sitting down.

_"Have you ever heard of the neurotoxin PhTx3?"_ she asked looking at him. Kaine stared back at her blankly. _"Don't worry neither had I until I did some research. Your venom is almost exactly the same as PhTx3 which is the neurotoxin produced by the Brazilian Wandering Spider."_

_"Is it dangerous?"_ Kaine asked curiously. He'd never actually killed anyone with his stingers. Well he had but it wasn't the venom that had done it. It was generally the fact the unlucky person got impaled on the sharp points and died but he'd often wondered if his venom alone could kill.

_"Dangerous?"_ Oracle asked looking at him wide eyed. She couldn't believe Kaine had been wandering around with those weapons and not know anything about them. _"Kaine, its fucking lethal"_ she replied. _"It stops glutamate release, calcium uptake and also glutamate uptake in neural synapses. At certain concentrations it causes loss of muscle control and respiratory inhibition, resulting in paralysis and eventual asphyxiation."_

_"I have no idea what you just said. Could you dumb it down a shade?"_ Kaine asked looking at her with a mix of amusement and confusion.

_"Small doses will paralyse but large doses will paralyse the entire nervous system and your shut down your lungs causing you to die from oxygen starvation"_ Barbara stated.

_"Damn"_ Kaine said looking at his wrists curiously.

_"Damn is right. How do you stab people with that and not kill them?"_

_"Well whenever I strike someone with it I feel a kind of contraction in my wrist. If I squeeze a bit harder I think I could increase the dosage"_ Kaine replied thoughtfully as he remembered the feeling.

_"That does make sense. Most spider's don't kill their prey in one bite. They paralyze them so they can eat them later. That's probably why your default dose is low and not lethal"_ Oracle said thoughfully.

_"Well that's interesting"_ Kaine replied, he was starting to see his stingers in a new light.

_"I've never seen anything like this. Your DNA is completely infused with that of a spider's but I also detected small doses of radiation in your blood. From my tests I've determined it's not harmful to you. In fact its what's holding your DNA together"_ Barbara said turning her laptop round to show Kaine the results. _"How did you gain your abilities? It's a mutation that's for sure but it's not a natural one. Did someone do this to you?"_ she asked looking Kaine in the eyes.

_"Look I know your only trying to help but there's certain things about me that I don't really want to share right now. Awful things I don't really want to talk about. Maybe in future when I'm more comfortable around you all but not now"_ the Scarlet Spider replied turning away from her.

_"Ok we'll leave it like that for moment. How about we go over some of the other blood results?"_ she suggested trying to change the subject.

For next two hours they looked over rows of rows of charts and diagrams. "His biology truly is incredible" she thought as she looked at one of the reports. Kaine's muscles hardly produced any fatigue toxins at all. He could probably run for days on end without any damage to his muscles. There was something odd though. His cells where slightly wrong almost as if they had been copied from something else but she pushed it to the back of her mind blaming the abnormalities on whatever gave him his abilities.

_"Well all this stuff has been interesting but I'm gonna call it a day"_ Kaine said getting up and leaving the lab.

_"Ok I'm going to keep looking. This is really quite astounding I didn't know it was possible to.." _Kaine shut the door as he walked out cutting off Oracle's rant.

He walked into the living room and spied Helena sitting on the couch reading a book. Kaine couldn't explain why but for some reason he was drawn to her, he walked over and sat next to Huntress. Helena turned her blue eyes to him in surprise as he sat down and her heartbeat increased slightly.

_"So where have you been?"_ she asked, trying to seem uninterested.

_"Oracle gave me a once over"_ he replied. Helena looked at him in shock. Kaine realizing her confusion began to chuckle._ "No I mean once over as in tests on my blood etc. Not as in the 'other' meaning"_ he replied unable to hold back his laughter at Helena's expression.

_"Oh"_ Huntress replied blushing slightly."Of course that's what he meant dummy. What else could he have been talking about? Why were you even thinking about that in the first place?" she thought kicking herself.

_"How are you feeling?"_

Helena turned back to him surprised.

_"How am I? You're the one who got injured and gassed not me."_

_"Well I saw you were a bit upset after you kicked that Cat-guy in the nuts"_ Kaine replied simply.

_"You saw that?"_ Huntress asked surprised.

_"I caught it out of the corner of my eye"_ Kaine said shrugging. This was a lie, for some reason he'd been trying to keep an eye on her in case she needed help.

_"He's an ex of mine. We didn't get that far in the relationship. I'd debated going all the way with him but…" _Helena stopped mid-sentence "What the hell are you doing? Why are you telling him this? You barely even know him" she thought.

_"But?"_ Kaine pressed looking at her curiously.

_"Well ermm..I'm Catholic and well…"_

_"Oh I get it"_ Kaine replied understanding instantly what she was talking about. _"So you're Catholic? I haven't come across many people with religious views in this line of work"_ Kaine said looking at her curiously.

_"Well my family was Catholic and when they died it seemed like a good way of remembering them"_ Huntress replied _"What about you?"_

_"No, I don't have any beliefs. If there is something out there looking out for us it sure as hell doesn't like me"_ Kaine replied without hesitation. _"So why did you and your ex call it quits?"_ he asked hastily changing the subject.

_"He betrayed me. I don't really want to talk about him"_ she replied curtly.

_"Then it must have felt good giving him a kick in the junk"_ Kaine replied smiling.

_"Yes it did actually"_ Huntress replied, a smile also spreading across her own face.

_"Kaine! C'mon you said you'd show me what you've got!"_

Kaine turned at the sound of the voice but his vision was quickly impaired as Ravager crashed onto his lap.

_"I don't remember saying anything of the sort"_ he replied as Rose sat across him.

_"Oh c'mon I'm bored"_ she replied pressing herself against him and moving her face dangerously close to his.

_"If I come do this will you give me some peace?"_

_"Of course"_ Rose replied getting of Kaine's lap and back to her feet.

Helena's hand unclenched, this surprised her as she hadn't even noticed it had been balled into a fist. For some reason she had really wanted to punch Rose then and she didn't understand why. "You know exactly why!" a little voice in her head blurted out but she ignored it.

_"I'll talk to you later"_ Kaine said as Ravager dragged him out the room.

Helena muttered something obscene under her breath about Ravager and turned back to her book. Although she found it quite hard to concentrate knowing Kaine was going to be alone with Rose.


	9. Discretion

**Kord Tower**

When Kaine and Rose arrived at the gym the only other person there was Black Canary who was busily running on one of the treadmills, her mp3 blaring into her ears at the same time.

_"Whats this for?"_ he asked as Ravager threw him a pair of tracksuits.

_"They're trousers. You wear them"_ she replied sarcastically._ "Unless you want to do the exercises in your jeans and T-shirt which will probably rip or you can do it without clothes. I won't complain"_ Ravager finished smiling playfully at him.

Kaine mumbled something about not in the mood right now before taking of his jeans and replacing them with the lighter material.

_"You know I only had a shower a couple of hours ago"_ he sighed.

_"Well looks like you'll just have to have another one. Hardly the end of the world is it?"_ Rose replied giving him another suggestive glance as he pulled off his shirt.

Now they weren't in the dark room of the hotel she could see his inhuman muscular form. That kind of muscle growth wass impossible for a human. Rose had trained all her life and she'd seen humans at peak condition but this was different. Every part of his skin was ridged by some kind of muscle, it was quite incredible really. She had also noticed he must have been in quite a few scrapes as he had a lot of scars covering his body. The most pronounced was a large wound in the center of his chest.

_"What?"_ Kaine asked, finally noticing her looking at him interestedly.

_"How did you get that scar?"_ Rose asked looking at it inquisitively.

_"Lady, I don't know if you noticed but there's quite a few. Care to be a bit more specific ?"_ Kaine replied sarcastically.

_"This one!"_ Ravager said, quickly approaching him and placing her hand on the mark. Kaine shivered involuntarily at her touch and quickly pulled Rose's hand away.

_"Ah that"_ he replied composing himself.

Kaine remembered that as if it was yesterday. That scar was the thing that reminded him he was no longer the monster he had been. A while ago Kraven's psychotic family had come back to New York intent on hunting 'Spiders' to resurrect Kraven himself through some creepy voodoo means. Eventually he, Peter, Arana and Julia had been forced into a fight. When Arana was captured Peter had wanted to walk straight into the lion's den. When Kaine had realized that his 'brother' was going to get himself killed something inside him changed. He couldn't let Parker die so he beat his 'brother' unconscious, took his suit and went to deal with the Kravinoff's himself.

It turned out they had hired other villains and Kaine was in an 8 vs 1 scenario. He managed to beat a few of them down but he was inevitably defeated and the Kravinoff's sacrificed him, thinking him to be the real Spider-man. He remembered smiling as the knife pierced his chest. Kraven had needed a pure 'Spider' to come back entirely and he was far from that. It was his last "fuck you" to Kraven before he died.

Upon his resurrection by means he still didn't quite understand, Julia had explained to him what had happened. Parker wracked with grief at Kaine's death to save his own life had attacked the Kravinoff's with a viciousness and bloodlust rarely seen from the web-slinger. Even going as far as carving Kaine's mark into Sasha Kravinoff's face to avenge him. Julia apparently had to stop Peter from beating Kraven to death with his bare hands such was his anger.

_"Hey you still in there?"_ Ravager said tapping him on the head.

_"Yeah, sorry. I got that from an old playmate"_ he replied sarcastically.

_"Ok then hot stuff show me what you've got"_ Ravager replied jokily as she made her way over to a large gym mat on the floor.

_"And you want me to do what exactly?"_ Kaine asked looking at her curiously.

_"I want you to beat me in a hand to hand fight without using your stingers or webbing"_ Rose replied simply. Kaine raised an eyebrow and gave her an odd glance. _"Oh and put this on as well"_ she continued throwing him a blindfold.

As soon as the Scarlet Spider had tied the piece of fabric over his eyes his spider-sense kicked in and he leapt quickly to the left avoid a swipe from Ravager.

_"That's hardly fair play is it?"_Kaine said as he landed a few feet away. Rose didn't let up for a second and suddenly she was on him, launching strike after strike. After she'd landed a few blows she began to doubt what she had seen earlier.

_"Maybe he isn't as fast as I originally believed"_ she thought as she kicked Kaine in the head. No sooner had she thought this he disappeared and reappeared beside her. Grabbing Ravager's left arm Kaine pulled it behind her back, locking it into place.

"He was toying with me" Rose thought as she realized the speed Kaine could move at if he wanted. She spun aiming an elbow to his head but he was already gone. Ducking to avoid her blow he kicked her legs from beneath her and she fell to the floor. Kaine leapt on top of her pinning Rose's arms above her head.

_"I think I won"_ he said smirking as he pulled off the blindfold.

_"Oh really? From the position I'm seeing this from I believe I'm the one who's wining"_ Ravager replied coyly as she quickly wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him closer to her, arching her back and bringing her mouth dangerously close to his. Kaine froze not really sure how to proceed.

_"Rose you really shouldn't tease him"_ Dinah commented. She was no longer on the treadmill and was observing them both with a mixture of curiosity and amusement.

Kaine quickly separated himself from Ravager who was glaring daggers at Dinah for interrupting.

_"Well I'm going to go and try the assault course again"_ Kaine muttered as he quickly put some distance between himself and Ravager.

_"You're not very discreet are you?"_ Dinah said sitting down on the mat next to Rose.

_"I don't know what you mean"_ Ravager replied innocently.

_"Oh c'mon that was practically sexual assault"_ Dinah replied laughing._ "You should be careful round him. Although he is for most purposes a decent person there are a few things that he needs to get sorted"_ Black Canary continued darkening slightly.

_"He's got a nice body though so that will help me see past mostly everything else"_ Rose replied jokily as she watched the Scarlet Spider clear the course for a 4th time.

_"Isn't that objectification?"_ Dinah asked smiling and rolling her eyes.

_"Oh c'mon, stop being a killjoy. Men say stuff like that about women all the time. Let me have my fun"_ Ravager replied laughing.

After he'd finished doing a few laps Kaine decided to go get something to drink and put some more distance between himself and Rose. She'd been giving him interested looks since earlier and to be completely honest he didn't trust himself if he was around her on his own either. He was definitely attracted to her physically. Well who wouldn't be? she was gorgeous. It was then he realized who she reminded him of. The platinum hair, the carefree attitude, she reminded him of Felicia Hardy or the Black Cat as she was also known.

Grabbing his clothes he threw them into his room as he passed, not bothering to get changed.

_"I see you hit the gym"_ Zinda commented as he entered the kitchen and filled up a glass of water.

_"I didn't really want to but I was kind of forced into it"_ Kaine replied drinking the glass in one gulp and refilling it again.

_"Ravager can have that effect on people"_ Blackhawk replied smiling as he drained the second glass.

_"So why are you doing this?"_ Kaine asked turning to her curiously. _"Oracle I get. She said she got crippled by some bad guy so shes probably doing this to stop it happening to other people. I also get Ravager. Her dad is an assassin that sort of thing always comes back to haunt you. I get Hawk and Dove. They're friends who look like they got into this for the same reason. Huntress I understand more than anyone. When someone in your family is murdered it leaves a mark"_ Kaine continued as Uncle Ben's face flashed across his mind. _"But you. You I don't get. I can't see any real motive for you to want to do this. Why not get out while you can and try and have a real life?"_

_"I'm more complicated than I look"_ Zinda replied still smiling. _"I was a pilot during World War II, a member of the Blackhawks who were an elite team of pilots and soldiers"_ Lady Blackhawk continued as Kaine poured the third glass of water over his head to cool himself down.

_"World War II?"_ the Scarlet Spider asked looking at her in surprise as the cold water trickled down his face. _"Wouldn't that make you like 90? You've either aged really, really well or there's something I've missed"_ Kaine finished.

_"There is something you've missed"_ Zinda replied laughing _"It's pretty complicated but I was basically thrown through time to this era"_ she explained. Kaine looked at her a minute before shrugging and taking another drink. _"You don't seem very surprised by that"_ she commented looking at him.

_"When you've been in this game long enough things stop surprising you. Anyway I have had encounters with another World War II veteran from the past"_ Kaine replied as he remembered fighting alongside Captain America and the other Avengers during Spider-island.

_"Really? What was their name?"_ Blackhawk asked curiously.

_"You won't know him but it's Steve Rodgers"_ the Scarlet Spider replied as he picked up an apple and bit into it.

_"Nope, don't know him"_ Zinda confirmed as Kaine took another bite of the apple.

_"Well I'm going out for a patrol"_ Kaine replied as he made his way to the door, half eaten apple still in hand.

_"What now?"_ Blackhawk asked surprised. _"It's mid-day?"_

_"So?"_ the Scarlet Spider asked looking over his shoulder.

_"Its just not many of us do much during the day due to the low crime rates. We're mainly nocturnal"_ Zinda Blake replied, looking at him curiously.

_"I don't have a preference"_ Kaine stated as he left the room. _"Stupid Parker and his sense of responsibility"_ he muttered under his breath as he left the room.

Kaine didn't like the fact that Peter's ideals were becoming more and more prominent in his head. That was what was calling him out now. The fact that someone somewhere could be getting hurt wouldn't have bothered him before his rebirth but now it was almost like his chest was tied to a piece of string that was being pulled out into the city. Entering his room he quickly changed into his suit and leapt out the bedroom window.

**Gotham**

He'd been swinging through the city for about two hours with no sightings of any real problems, mainly it was small things. He'd saved a construction worker when an iron girder they had been attempting to winch up had broken loose. He'd also given them a brief piece of his mind about their lack of safety protocols, much to the surprise of the men.

Kaine wasn't Peter and he was trying his best not to be. He couldn't change his genetics but he wasn't going to be a carbon copy of Spider-man. Kaine wanted to feel unique, different, not a failed attempt at life as the Jackal had drummed into his head. He had started getting shocked looks from the citizens of Gotham when a few of them happened to look up.

"Obviously they are used to discreet super-humans unless bad guys are about" Kaine thought as swung through the streets. He was starting to get bored. Although in a way he was glad there was no crime for him to stop as it meant he wouldn't feel so guilty about not going out at a later date if he didn't have to, it didn't change the fact his body was screaming for confrontation.

This was one aspect that really set him apart from Parker. Spider-man didn't like fighting and only did it to protect people. During his darker years Kaine had become the polar opposite. Craving the feeling of cutting loose against opponents, the feeling of bones shattering beneath his hands and warm blood trickling down them. While he was no longer that monster, the craving was still there but it could be easily satiated by putting a few thugs in their place and without resorting to lethal force.

As he swung over a small street his spider-sense began to buzz. It wasn't the strong screaming buzz that came if he was in imminent danger, it was the small tingling one that meant something bad was going to happen. He quickly came to a halt on a nearby roof top and watched as a group of about 8 men armed with automatic rifles crouched in an alleyway.

"What's their deal?" the Scarlet Spider thought as he watched the men check their ammo. Just then a large armoured car turned into the street, followed closely by a police escort. "That's not an armoured car used for transporting money" Kaine thought as he looked at the vehicle. He'd come to this conclusion as it didn't have any banking marks on it. Instead it had Arkaham Asylum written across the side not to mention the police where to heavily armed for this to just be transporting money. The men left their hiding place and began running towards the van.

_"Fuck"_ Kaine growled as he saw one of the men was holding an RPG. "Stupid, stupid" he thought as she sped towards the men. He should have taken them out the moment he saw them and not waited to assess the situation. He wasn't fast enough. The man with the rocket launcher quickly fired a shot into the van blowing it of its wheels and causing the doors to fly open. The Scarlet Spider landed on the closest man and kicked off his chest throwing the man to the floor and giving Kaine enough propulsion to flip backwards avoiding the spray of gunfire that erupted from the other surprised men. Throwing both his hands out as he span in mid air, he snagged two of the other men and as he landed he pulled them off their feet sending them flying into one of the many parked cars.

_"What the hell's going on?"_ one of the others asked as he took aim at Kaine. _"I ain't never seen this guy before."_

_"Who cares? Blow him away"_ his companion replied as bullets flashed from his gun's muzzle. The Scarlet Spider evaded the bullets and closed the distance between him and his opponents with lighting speed. Grabbing the closest man's weapon he wrenched it from his grip with such force it broke a few of the man's fingers. The man screamed in pain but was cut off as Kaine's foot collided with his head lifting him off the floor and sending him flying into the nearest wall.

Kaine's spider-sense went haywire and he turned just as the bullet left the barrel of the other man's gun. Everything seemed to slow down. He didn't have time to avoid the bullet and he knew it. "C'mon you've seen Parker do this before" he thought as the bullet sped towards him. The Scarlet Spider's hand snapped out. For one horrific moment he thought he hadn't been quick enough but as he looked at his hand he saw the bullet fitting snugly between his thumb and forefinger tips.

The shooter looked on bemused at the sight of the Scarlet Spider catching the bullet. This moment of distraction was all Kaine needed and he quickly lurched forward throwing the bullet harmlessly aside. Grabbing the man by the head he slammed him into the tarmac floor. Not letting up for a second he quickly launched himself at the next man and ricocheted quickly through the rest of them delivering blow after punishing blow. After he'd dealt with the thugs which had only taken a few seconds. He turned back to the truck which was currently surround by the armed police. Kaine debated leaving them to deal with it until suddenly the concrete surrounding the truck cracked and huge green tendrils erupted from the ground send the police flying in all directions.

Launching himself forward he quickly caught one of the men as he was sent careering towards a brick wall. The man was surprised to find his momentum halted and turned coming face to face with Kaine's red lenses. As the Scarlet Spider placed the man on his feet a woman emerged from the van. Kaine observed her for a moment, she was wearing jeans and a black t-shit and had long red hair but the thing that struck him most was the colour of her skin. It was a pale green.

_"Whats the deal with her?"_ Kaine asked turning to the policeman, hoping to get a quick rundown on how to take her out.

_"Her name's Poison Ivy and…."_

_"I don't need to know her life's story"_ Kaine snapped interrupting the man. _"Just tell me how I put her down!"_

Pamela Isley stepped from the vehicle blinking a few times to get her eyes used to the light. "_Stupid_" she commented looking at the battered policeman surrounding the van. Suddenly a tremendous force slammed into her stomach, lifting her off her feet and sending her crashing through a nearby wall.

_"W-what was that?"_ she groaned groggily getting back to her feet. Then she saw him. Kaine was standing where she had been a few moments earlier, hands still balled into fists. The policeman hadn't been very informative but from what he gathered she didn't have durability much above meta-human so if he could get in close he should be able to finish her without too much trouble.

_"Oh great another man with an animal obsession"_ Ivy said looking at the spider emblazed on Kaine's chest._ "Let me guess you're another one of those hero wannabes? You're going to ask me to surrender and when I refuse you'll try to beat me and then send me back to Arkham. Am I right?"_ she said sarcastically and giving Kaine a condescending look.

_"You got two parts of that wrong"_ Kaine growled back. _"I don't care whether or not you surrender. In fact if you did it would make my day pretty mundane and I'll only be sending you back to where you came from if I don't accidently kill you first"_ the Scarlet Spider finished as he launched himself at full speed towards the woman.

Ivy stepped back in shock pulling a mass of plan tentacles from the ground to create a shield between her and Kaine. To her surprise his fist carved right through the it and she had to duck to avoid his fist. Kaine didn't give her a minute to recover and pressed his attack. Ivy responded by calling more and more plant tentacles to try and stop the Scarlet Spider. Kaine tore through most of them with ease as they lashed towards him but as more of the tendrils appeared he was forced to start using his agility to avoid then. As Ivy called forth larger tendrils Kaine was forced back to rethink his strategy.

Poison Ivy stared at him her heart racing. Whoever this guy was he wasn't holding back and she knew from his attacks that he wasn't kidding about killing her. She could see the rage and strength behind each one as it easily tore through her tendrils.

_"Who the hell are you?"_ Pamela growled as she lashed out again. Kaine launched himself into the air, bouncing from tendril to tendril and closing in on her.

Poison Ivy realized her mistake and quickly pulled them back. She was only just quick enough and managed to grab Kaine's fist only inches away from her face. The green tendril tossed the Scarlet Spider away but it didn't faze him as he used his spider-like grace to land on his feet completely unperturbed a few meters away.

_"What do you want?"_ she snarled. The thing that actually scared her about this man wasn't his silence, that she was used to but the way his silence was coupled with lethal intent. Not to mention she'd been pooring out pheromone's since earlier in attempt to bring him under her control which didn't seem to be having any effect. What she didn't know was that Kaine was currently running completely on instinct, one of the few things that cannot be controlled. The human part of him that she could control had been pushed aside leaving the just the spider.

_"C'mon don't hold back fight me"_ Kaine snarled at her. Every muscle in his body was wound up like a spring at the thrill of cutting lose. He turned, grabbed hold of the overturned van and wrenched it from the ground. Ivy watched in horror as the man lifted the vehicle above his head and then without hesitation tossed it at her like he was throwing a tennis ball. Ivy rolled to the side and used her tentacles to try and slow the vehicle's approach but her foot got caught under van as it crashed into the ground. She didn't even have time to attempt to move the van before Kaine was one her. The Scarlet Spider crouched over her the spider side of him now fully in control. Kaine's thought process had been put on hold and he didn't see a woman beneath him. He only saw prey. Poison Ivy realized by the way his body was moving that any human side that was once there was now replaced by a predator. A stinger snapped from Kaine's left wrist and he placed it under her chin savouring the moment.

_"Let her go son. It's over."_

Kaine's body froze, angry at being denied his prey. He turned slowly to see the policeman he'd rescued earlier standing behind him. Kaine pushed the stinger a little harder causing it to break the skin and Ivy whimpered slightly at the pain.

_"Don't do it!"_

Kaine heard the click of the gun being cocked and reacted. Turning with lighting speed he swatted the gun from the man's hand and grabbed him by the neck at the same time placing his other foot on Ivy holding her down.

_"Do not threaten me"_ he snarled looking the policeman in the eyes.

_"Please.."_ the man managed to gasp through Kaines inhuman grip.

This snapped Kaine out of his blood-lust. He quickly dropped the man and stepped back in horror.

_"I-I'm sorry I.."_ but he didn't know how to finish the sentence. The Scarlet Spider quickly secured Ivy to the ground with his webbing and turned to leave. As he did he felt a hand on his shoulder. Kaine turned back coming face to face with the policeman, who was in the process of rubbing his neck.

_"Listen. You did good here son but you need to get some help"_ the man said cautiously.

_"I'm not coming with you if that's what you're asking"_ Kaine replied curtly.

_"No. I didn't mean that. I've met enough of you to know how secretive you are"_ the man muttered. _"Just get yourself some help. If I hadn't been here, you'd have killed that woman and that wouldn't have gone away"_ the policeman continued. _"My name is Commissioner Gordon by the way"_ the man said extending his hand.

Although Kaine had just tried to choke him James knew the difference between a villain and someone who simply needed help and this man in front of him wasn't a villain. Kaine hesitated before shaking it.

_"Scarlet Spider"_ he replied.

_"Glad to have another guy on our side"_ Gordon continued. _"Just please get some help. I don't want to have to arrest you."_

_"You could try"_ Kaine replied jokily as he launched himself into the air and swung off.

Unknown to Kaine he'd had a spectator. Stephanie Brown had been out shopping and watched the entire fight with amazement. When the men had burst out of the alley she had debated leaping into action but before she'd had time the Scarlet Spider had quickly taken them all down. She had also had to quickly take cover when Kaine cut loose and tossed the van as its impact caused the windows to shatter sending glass flying in all directions. Stephanie guessed by the time she got back Bruce would have already heard about this but she still hurried back as the Scarlet Spider swung off.


	10. Making An Impression

**Kord Tower**

_"I wonder where Kaine is_" Ravager muttered as she entered Kord's living room.

_"You tried his room?"_ Hawk asked turning away from the TV.

_"No Hank, that's the only place in the whole tower I haven't checked"_ Rose replied sarcastically.

_"Maybe he decided to get away from you"_ Huntress muttered under her breath.

_"What was that?"_ Ravager asked sharply, turning to Helena.

_"I think I've found him"_ Hawk suddenly piped up as he began to turn the volume up on the TV.

_"Reports of a new vigilante roaming Gotham have today been confirmed when a masked individual intervened to prevent the escape of notorious eco-terrorist Poison Ivy"_ the anchor woman said as she stood in front of a wrecked van. _"Previous reports had been coming in about the individual from local gangs and the hospitals treating their badly beaten members. We have some amateur footage of the fight taken by a bystander when it occurred"_ the woman said just before the screen flashed to a video of Kaine beating down the men and proceeding to attack poison Ivy.

_"Well he's not exactly holding back"_ Zinda commented raising an eyebrow as she watched Kaine lift the van and launch it in Poison Ivy's direction. It was then that the video feed ended.

_"Commissioner Gordon would you like to give us a statement about said vigilante?"_ The camera panned over to the familiar light brown haired man with the moustache.

_"I will say that without the aid of this man Poison Ivy surely would have escaped"_ the policeman replied.

_"Is he working with the Gotham police like the Batman? Do we have a name for said individual?"_ the woman persisted.

_"No, the Scarlet Spider is in no way affiliated with Gotham PD"_ Gordon replied as he turned to leave.

_"From what we've seen this Scarlet Spider uses an excessive use of violence. The brutality of his actions has been received with mixed reactions. Some people are saying that he should be held accountable for his actions and others are saying that the people deserve what they got. What is your view on this?"_

_"I agree his methods are excessive and we will do everything in our power to see that he abides by the law"_ Gordon replied before leaving. Just as the interview ended Kaine dropped in through the skylight.

_"I see you've had a busy afternoon"_ Oracle commented looking at him.

_"You're not exactly shy are you?"_ Ravager smirked as Kaine turned to the screen as the images of his previous encounter were being played again.

_"It's not like they can tell who I am anyway"_ he grumbled as he sat down in a chair and pulled his mask off.

_"It'll be interesting to see how the city reacts"_ Dinah replied placing a hand on her chin thoughtfully. _"Most of us tend to keep a low profile and stick to attacking at night with only a few exceptions. It's been a while since any superhuman went this public."_

_"Well a few people seem ok with it"_ Kaine said gesturing to the TV as the construction worker he'd saved earlier appeared on the screen.

_"You had an encounter with the Scarlet Spider an hour before this occurred correct?"_ the woman asked him.

_"Yeah, me and the boys where hauling and iron girder when the cable snapped. This Spider-dude caught the thing and pulled it up with his bare hands before it could crush me. The guy's got my vote of confidence it's not often these so called super-hero's help out us everyday folk when their isn't some sort of crime going on"_ the man replied.

_"Where are you going?"_ Helena asked as Kaine left the room.

_"I need some rest i'll be back later"_ he murmured in reply.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile on the other side of Gotham someone else had just finished watching the tape.<p>

_"As you know master Bruce I abhor waking you but I though you may want to see this"_ Alfred had said when he'd woken Bruce Wayne and turned the TV on.

Sure enough the feed was of great interest to the dark knight. The video was too blurry for Bruce to tell exactly if this was someone he knew in a new costume or not but he was pretty sure he didn't recognize any of the movements. Just then Stephanie walked in. Having not been able to find Alfred she'd guessed he'd be with Bruce.

_"I guess you already know about the Spider guy?"_ she asked pushing some blond hair from her face.

_"Yes"_ Bruce replied getting out of bed and pulling on a t-shirt.

_"The guy was incredible you should have seen his movements Bruce"_ Stephanie replied as she followed him out the room.

_"Wait you were there?"_ he asked turning to her.

_"Well I was out shopping and I sort of came across it"_ Stephanie replied simply.

_"Did he use any fighting style you recognize?"_ Bruce asked as the bookcase moved to one side to reveal an elevator.

_"No. It was freestyle, no real definable features. To be honest it was more animalistic, like a predator going in for the kill than a trained martial artist"_ she replied as she got into the elevator.

As the elevator took them down into the Bat-cave they found Cassandra Cain already there training. Although Bruce had been at odds with Cassandra since the whole league of assassins deal. Eventually they had managed to come to common ground and he'd allowed her to stay, if only just to keep an eye on her.

_"Whats going on?"_ the black haired woman asked as they entered. It wasn't often Bruce was up this early in the day.

_"A new player"_ Stephanie replied as Bruce sat down in front of the giant screen and played the footage he'd seen earlier. Cassandra came and sat beside him and watched the video.

_"Well his strength is definitely above human"_ Batman said as he watched Kaine toss the van.

_"So are his reflexes"_ Cassandra added watching as he dodged the plant tendrils with ease. Not much else was visible due to the poor footage but still it was something to go on.

_"Looks like this Scarlet Spider has started to make a name for himself"_ Bruce muttered as he brought up some newspaper articles about gang members being attacked by an unknown assailant.

_"How do you know its him?"_ Cassandra asked as she read the reports.

_"The men in this article and the ones who were taken down trying to free Ivy both bare similar attack marks. Broken wrists, ribs, legs and ankles. I think its safe to assume that as these happened within a day of each other that this Scarlet Spider is the culprit."_

_"Jeez he doesn't exactly hold back does he?"_ Stephanie said flinching as she saw a picture of the bloodied and beaten thugs.

_"We'll go out tonight and see if the Spider shows up. I'd like to have a few words with him"_ Bruce said as he tapped away on the keyboard.

* * *

><p><strong>Kord Tower<strong>

A few hours later the sky began to darken and Kaine was ready to go back on patrol.

_"Don't you ever take a break?"_ Oracle asked as he walked by her clad in his suit.

_"Nope"_ he replied moving aside so he could fit past the wheel chair.

Barbara watched him leave curiously something was dragging him out into the city, some motive and whatever it was it was strong. She really needed to get Kaine to open up there was still much they had to learn about him. Turning away from him she made her way towards the lounge.

_"That guy needs to relax"_ Barbara muttered as she entered the room.

_"What was that?"_ Helena asked turning to her.

_"You've noticed how tense Kaine is all the time right? Almost like there's something eating away at him"_ Oracle replied looking at the raven haired woman.

_"Now you mention it he is pretty protective about his past"_ Ravager piped up._ "I asked him about a scar on his chest and he completely blew me off."_

_"We need to get him to talk. That kind of aggression building up inside someone without another way of venting it apart from on unsuspecting thugs isn't good. One day that aggression is going to boil over and get someone killed. He needs an outlet for it"_ Barbara said thoughtfully as she looked out the window.

_"I'd quite happily be his outlet"_ Ravager said smirking as she lay back in her chair.

_"That's something I'd like to talk to you about Rose"_ Oracle began turning sharply to Ravager. _"Kaine is in a very fragile state of mind and I'd appreciate it if you didn't make this any harder than it already is."_

Helena couldn't help but smile slightly at this.

_"Oh c'mon we're all adults here. I believe he's old enough to make his own decisions"_ Rose replied sourly.

_"Where is he anyway? __He went straight to his room when he got back and I haven't seen him since"_ Hawk asked as he noticed the Scarlet Spiders absence.

_"Patrolling"_ Oracle replied simply.

* * *

><p><strong>Gotham<strong>

Kaine had only been in the city a few days but the impact he'd made was clear. As he swung through the not so nice parts of the city he saw five dealers refuse to sell any form of drugs to clients due to the man with red eyes. He actually felt quite pleased with himself. His actions although brutal where actually scaring the gangs into submission. As he crawled along an alleyway he saw a group of men grab a woman from behind as she walked past the alley.

_"Why don't these people just a get a job"_ Kaine thought as he made his way towards the mugging.

It was as he drew closer he realized it wasn't a mugging it was much worse. One of the men was tearing at the woman's clothes. Kaine's whole body tensed and before he could stop himself he lashed out grabbing one of the men behind the neck and throwing him into the wall hearing the sickening crack as something broke. The thought of someone using someone else for a sense of sick satisfaction threw Kaine into a rage. He knew what it was like to be used by someone for sick purposes. Granted it wasn't the same as rape but it still brought back memories of how the Jackal had run his sick experiments on him to turn him into a fully functioning copy of Spider-man.

Kaine didn't even wait for the other two men to say anything before he ploughed into them. Kaine drove his hand into the nearest lifting him off his feet before grabbing him in mid-air and slamming him back into the concrete ground. He kicked the second one in the knee causing the ligament to shatter and grabbed the man by the face muffling his scream. Kaine's red lenses looked at the man furiously as he quickly broke both his arms causing more muffled screaming.

_"Get out of here"_ Kaine growled turning his head to the frightened woman who was getting to her feet. _"You aren't going to want to see this!"_

The woman didn't argue and ran away as fast as she could. The Scarlet Spider's lenses came back to focus on the terrified man in his grip. His hand shifted to the mans neck and tightened.

"Are you going to do it?" he thought as his gripped tightened. "Are you really going to kill this piece of crap?"

Before Kaine could make up his mind he heard the sound of a pair of hands clapping. Turning away from the thug he watched as a man stepped out of the shadows. The stranger was dressed in a leather jacket and jeans but the thing that caught Kaine's attention was the bright red mask he was wearing.

_"Well that was very well executed"_ Red Hood said approvingly as he looked at the broken men littering the floor.

_"Who the hell are you?"_ the Scarlet Spider growled releasing the man and turning his attention to the new arrival.

_"Oh don't worry about me we're on the same team"_ he replied simply_ "I was about to take care of this assholes myself only you beat me to the punch as it were"_ Red Hood finished smiling slightly at his pun.

Kaine relaxed his stance realizing this man wasn't here to fight him.

_"Oh allow me to finish the job for you"_ Red Hood said quickly producing a gun and shooting the man Kaine had been choking earlier squarely in the head. The Scarlet Spider looked at the now dead man in shock. _"I have to say I like your style"_ the Jason continued. _"It's nice to see not everyone is holding back against shit like this."_

_"You killed him"_ Kaine gasped still looking at the man lying on the floor.

_"Oh c'mon, if I hadn't appeared just then you'd have choked him to death anyway"_ Red Hood replied curtly.

"Would I?" Kaine thought. The frightening thing was he couldn't actually come up with an answer to that question.

_"I've heard quite a bit about you recently through the underworld. I have to say you've made quite an impression. Most of them are too scared to come out at all thanks to you. Scarlet Spider isn't it?"_ Todd asked eyeing the red suited man.

_"Yes"_ Kaine muttered answering his question.

_"Some people just don't deserve to live"_ Red Hood continued looking at Kaine. _"I can see from the way you're looking at them that you agree."_

It was true Kaine didn't think any of those pieces of crap deserved life but was it really his right to take it from them?

_"Well it's been interesting meeting you. Hopefully we can do this again sometime"_ Jason finished as he turned away.

_"Wait who the hell are you?"_ Kaine yelled after him.

_"Oh sorry how rude of me. Call me Red Hood. I'm a Big fan by the way"_ Jason shouted back as he disappeared into the shadows.

After he was gone the Scarlet Spider turned back to one of the men who was getting shakily to his feet clutching his broken arm.

_"Get out of here and if you value your life you'll keep your trap shut"_ Kaine growled menacingly before scaling the building. He had no desire to find out anything more about the man he'd just met. In fact as long as Red Hood didn't bother him he saw no reason to take him in. All Red Hood had done was kill someone he might have killed anyway. As Kaine reached the top of the building he slumped down onto the cold floor.

"Get a grip!" he thought angrily as he punched the concrete. He was in no condition to continue the patrol. Kaine was reasonably sure someones blood would be on his hands if he did. The Scarlet Spider leapt into the air and began swinging at full speed back to Kord. The wind whipped his face through his mask as he did and the feeling helped to clear his head. He needed to get back to Kord. He needed to get some rest.

* * *

><p>Cassandra and Stephanie made their way across the rooftops scaning the alleys and buildings for this so called Scarlet Spider. After a few hours of finding nothing they decided to take a break and beat up a few thugs who had been causing trouble in that part of Gotham. The duo came to a halt in an alleyway and watched as two men spoke in hushed voices.<p>

_"I'm telling you man, this guy was a psycho you shoulda seen the way he ripped into us and Murphy's dead. That sick fuck killed him."_

_"Look stay calm we'll sort this out"_ the other man replied.

_"Sort this out? Are you fucking kidding me! This guy, he's not like Batman. This isn't some guy who'll beat us up and put us in jail. This Spider-guy looked like he'd tear us limb from limb just for the hell of it"_ the man snapped back, he was clearly nervous.

As soon as the Bat-women heard him mention a 'Spider-guy' they dropped down from their hiding place and quickly subdued the two men.

_"Tell us what you know about the Scarlet Spider? Who's he working for?"_ Cassandra growled clutching the man by his neck.

_"Or what?"_ the man snarled back. Cassandra pulled a batarang from her belt and placed it under his neck.

_"Or I'll gut you"_ she snarled back.

Seeing this Stephanie quickly stepped in. She wasn't 100% confident Cassandra had recovered from her time with the assassins.

_"C'mon handsome just tell us what you know"_ Stephanie said pushing Cassandra aside.

_"You don't get it do you? __You're Batman's bitches. You have rules, this Spider guy, he has no rules. Even if I did know anything about him I wouldn't tell you nor will anyone else. No one is going to risk crossing him for you"_ the man replied defiantly. Stephanie Brown stared at the man in shock. This man have only been active a few days but his reputation among the street gangs had spread like wildfire. They were actually scared of him.

_"C'mon lets keep looking"_ she said turning back to Cassandra after knocking the man unconscious.

They did this for another four hours but with no results.

_"No one is talking"_ Stephanie sighed sitting down.

_"He's obviously made quite an impression on them"_ Cassandra agreed.

_"That's putting it mildly"_ Bruce said as he walked out of the shadows.

_"God! Don't do that!"_ Stephanie cried jumping at his presence.

_"I've never seen anything quite like it"_ Batman continued ignoring her. _"Either no-one knows anything about him or their to scared to talk. I've actually seen dealers and gang members refuse to deal and come out of hiding just due to this man's actions. I haven't seen this since the first year I became Batman."_

_"Why don't we just leave him to it?"_ Cassandra suggested.

_"Unfortunately I just got word this Scarlet Spider took a life this evening. A group of three men attempted to rape a woman and the Scarlet Spider killed one of them and almost beat the other two to death. We can't turn a blind eye to that"_ Bruce replied.

_"So what? They were rapists"_ Cassandra replied coldly.

_"Who lives and who dies is not a decision we make"_ Batman snapped back._ "We aren't getting any tips through the streets. The gangs are too scared. One of the men he beat up is in a state of shock just mumbling 'the man with red eyes' over and over, the other discharged himself but wouldn't leave the hospital until his friends came to collect him"_ Batman continued turning away from Cassandra. _"We need to go about this another way!"_

* * *

><p><strong>Note: <strong>Sorry this update is a little late i've been busy and had to rush it slightly.


	11. Accusations

**Kord Tower 12pm**

The Birds had spent the past 2 hours of Kaine's absence trying to come up with a plan to get Kaine to tell them something about who he was but they knew from his personality that it wasn't going to be easy.

_"Perhaps if we just ask him directly"_ Dinah suggested.

_"I doubt it"_ Oracle replied "_He's to guarded._ _He seems to see everything as a threat. It's like some built in instinct."_

_"Hey the guy's been through some crap I don't think we should pry"_ Huntress said as she looked out the window to see if she could spot Kaine returning.

_"What are you talking about?"_ Dove asked turning to her.

_"Well he told me a little about himself when we went patrolling that one time"_ Helena replied still scanning the skyline.

_"What did he tell you?"_ Oracle asked interestedly her attention no focused on Huntress.

_"Not much really. He never had any parents. He didn't even have a name so he called himself Kaine"_ Helena replied a hint of sadness in her voice. _"He also said that he had psychological problems."_

_"My childhood doesn't sound so bad in comparison"_ Ravager commented in as she took in this new information.

"So he opened up to Helena" Oracle thought looking at the raven haired heroine. She could tell why. Both of them had endured the loss of their families and they had the same reckless, violent personality. _"You need to get him to talk to you. We can't have a living time bomb staying with us. Try to get him to open up to you. We need to know what we're dealing with"_ Barbara said looking at Huntress. She knew Helena wouldn't be to fond of the idea but what other choice did they have?

_"What? Why me?"_ Helena replied, turning to Oracle just a little faster than usual.

_"Yeah why her?"_ Rose asked looking slightly annoyed.

_"Because you've already managed to get him to tell you a bit about himself even if it wasn't intentional"_ Oracle replied forcefully. If she didn't know better she could have sworn Helena was a little nervous.

_"You want me to spy one him?"_ Helena asked quickly turning back to the window in case she gave anything else away.

_"No. Not spy. Just find out more about him."_

_"Whats the difference?"_ Helena snapped back.

"She's getting pretty wound up about this" Barbara thought looking at her friend.

_"Look I just don't think it's right. If he doesn't want us to know we should just respect that and move on"_ Huntress insisted as she noticed the look Oracle was giving her.

_"Under normal circumstances I'd agree but Kaine isn't normal. In fact from his lab report he's far from that. You said that he used to have psychotic tendencies if he were to snap again it could be a problem"_ Oracle replied trying to reason with Huntress.

_"Ok I'll do it but I'm not pressing him. I'll ask and if he tells me to fuck off I won't continue"_ Helena replied sourly. She knew Oracle had a point.

Just then the individual they were discussing entered the lounge. Still wearing his suit but without the mask and taking absolutely no notice of the group Kaine made a beeline for the kitchen.

_"I'm no expert but he doesn't look to happy"_ Blackhawk commented raising an eyebrow.

_"Looks like now is a good time to start your new job"_ Hank said smirking and turning to Huntress. Helena gave him a glare before leaving the group and following Kaine into the kitchen.

_"I see you don't live in that suit after all"_ Kaine muttered, turning to her as she entered. The only time he'd seen Huntress wear anything but her costume was the night they'd gone to the nightclub. Now she was wearing a white tank top and a pair of blue denim jeans that clung to her skin causing his imagination to run away with him slightly. Quickly he shook his head getting rid of those thoughts before filling a glass with water.

_"When I'm here I find it easier to stay in costume in case we ever have to leave unexpectedly"_ Huntress replied simply. _"This evening I just felt like a change, not to mention its hot as hell."_

Kaine had to agree with her. During his patrol he'd noticed the air temperature had risen a substantial amount. Maybe that was what had made him act the way he did earlier?

_"Did something happen?"_ Huntress asked looking at him with concern and dragging him from his thoughts.

_"It's nothing"_ Kaine replied as he tried to move past her but Helena stood firm not letting him get by._ "Move I'm not in the mood for this right now"_ Kaine said glaring at her. Helena didn't reply she just stood there staring at him with her ocean blue eyes. Kaine didn't like the fact those blue orbs where the reason he was currently rooted to the spot. _"Move"_ he said again his voice cracking slightly but she still didn't budge. Suddenly he reached out with his free hand gripping Huntress on the shoulder.

Helena didn't even flinch. She knew he was trying to scare her into backing down by making contact and using the anger in his eyes but she knew he wouldn't hurt her so she stood firm. Realizing she'd seen through him Kaine sighed before pushing Helena aside letting out an annoyed grunt as he did. Helena stood where Kaine had moved her too. It was then she realized she was breathing very quickly. He hadn't scared her, in fact when his brown eyes had glared at her it ignited the exact opposite feeling. She wasn't going to let him get away now. Helena could tell something had happened and whatever it was it was eating at him so she quickly left the kitchen and followed him to his room.

_"Can't you just leave me in peace?"_ Kaine sighed from his position sitting on the bed as she pushed his bedroom door open.

_"What's wrong?"_ she asked again a little more forcefully this time.

_"Look its nothing I just need some rest"_ the Scarlet Spider replied exasperatedly as Helena shut the door behind her.

_"You can't bullshit a bullshiter"_ Huntress replied as she sat on the soft material beside him. As soon as she sat down she knew it had been a mistake. She was sitting too close to him and the proximity was causing her mind to lose focus. Her breath began to churn slightly and her heart rate increased. She was so close she could feel the heat radiating from his skin.

_"Do you ever feel like you're not in control? Like there's something else inside you trying to get out and you know that this thing isn't very nice"_ Kaine asked finally turning to her.

_"I..er…"_ Helena didn't know how to respond to this. She knew the feeling well, at one point it had been consuming her. She had a good idea what Kaine was talking about.

_"I almost killed someone tonight"_ Kaine continued. _"I came so close. I had the guy in my hands and I was squeezing."_

_"But you didn't"_ Helena replied placing a hand on his shoulder.

_"But I wanted to. I wanted to kill him so badly."_

_"What was the guy doing?"_ Huntress asked. She could see from Kaine's eyes that he'd wanted to kill the man badly, the rage still burned in his brown orbs.

_"He and these others were going to force themselves on this woman and I just snapped"_ he admitted as he pulled off the top part of his crimson costume and dropped it to the floor.

It was then Helena noticed the scar Ravager had been referring to. It was on his left bicep and as he lent forward she discovered whatever had caused it had gone clean through him as there was a scar on his back as well. Reaching out she touched the mark curiously. Kaine snapped upright as if someone had sent a thousand volts of electricity through him.

_"Sorry"_ Helena said sheepishly and quickly pulled back as she realized she'd startled him.

_"It's ok. I'm just not really used to the whole touchy feely thing"_ he replied turning his brown eyes back to her. Kaine was still pain fully aware of the tingling sensation that had been left by her fingertips.

_"How are you still alive?"_ Huntress asked staring intently at the mark. It was exactly where his heart was and as the wound had gone clean through she knew it must have penetrated it.

_"Beats me"_ Kaine replied shrugging as he lay back onto the bed.

_"Who did that to you?"_ Huntress asked pushing some of her hair from her eyes.

_"Just some nut job I had a tussle with"_ Kaine muttered closing his eyes. Instinctively Helena reached out again to trace the mark. Kaine's body went ridged again but he didn't react aggressively.

_"Sorry pal but I'm not buying that. That wound is a perfect strike through your heart. You didn't get that in a fight"_ she replied sternly as she studied the scar. Helena felt Kaine's chest rise and fall beneath his hand as sighed in annoyance.

_"Look lady I'm beat and not really in the mood to discuss this right now"_ Kaine replied still not opening his eyes.

_"Ok just tell me how you got that and I'll leave you alone"_ she insisted lying down next to him. "What are you doing?" she thought. Kaine had told her he didn't want to talk and yet here she was pressuring him into talking not to mention laying exceedingly close to him for no apparent reason. Kaine opened one of his eyes and looked at her expectant face.

_"Ok then. I'm the clone of a guy who was bitten by a radioactive spider. I was killed by one of this guy's enemies when I pretended to be him and sacrificed in some weird ass voodoo ritual in an attempt to resurrect a dead man. A few days later I woke up in a coffin and clawed my way out. A so called keeper of the spiders. Who goes by the name Madame Webb by the way. Said I was brought back for a reason and when I attempted to leave my hometown she used her 'super reality warping mumbo jumbo' powers to send me to another dimension. Which turned out to be yours"_ Kaine replied watching Helena's face as he spoke. Huntress looked at him for a moment.

_"Fine don't tell me, jerk"_ she said smiling and playfully punching him on the shoulder thinking he was joking.

Kaine couldn't help but chuckle at her reaction. He knew she wouldn't have believed him anyway so he told her the truth. Why had he told her though? Ravager had asked him the exact same question and he'd shrugged it off.

_"You will tell me who you are eventually"_ Huntress said as she sat back up and got off the bed.

_"What makes you think that?"_ Kaine asked propping himself up, the corners of his mouth curling into a small smile.

_"I can be very persuasive. Now get some sleep. You look completely worn out"_ Huntress replied closing door, her eyes unconsciously lingering on him for a moment more than they should have.

As the door shut behind her she propped herself up against the wooden frame. As she placed a hand to her chest she realized her heart was in overdrive. _"C'mon Helena you beat the crap out of men all the time and yet just talking to this one gets you worked up?"_ she muttered as she walked back to the lounge.

_"Well?"_ Oracle asked looking at Helena expectantly.

_"He's just a little tense. Apparently he almost killed a rapist tonight"_ she replied.

_ "I don't think it was almost"_ Hank said. They all turned to him looking at the TV screen that was currently muted. It showed a man being taken out of an alleyway in a body bag.

_"Oh shit"_ Dinah exclaimed as she turned up the sound.

_"It seems the Scarlet Spider caused his first fatality today according to witnesses. This man was found dead with a bullet wound to the head. According to our sources he and a group of others had been about to assault a woman when the Scarlet Spider intervened" _the news reporter said standing in front of the ambulance.

_"Bullet wound?"_ Ravager said raising an eyebrow curiously. _"I didn't peg guns as being Kaine's style."_

_"Neither did I"_ Dove agreed switching the television off.

Huntress just stared at the blank screen in shock. Why had he lied?

* * *

><p><strong>Wayne Manor, Lounge<strong>

_"Why don't you just ask the Titans or the Birds Of Prey for help? We'd cover a lot more of the city that way"_ Cassandra suggested as she slumped into a chair.

_"No. The Titans just left for their main base and the Birds are still after the drug trade according to Grayson. I'm not going to drag more people than necessary into this"_ Bruce replied as he paced the room thoughtfully.

_"So how do we find this him? None of the thugs are going to tells us anything and to be quite honest I don't think they know anything about this Spider guy"_ Stephanie commented as watched Bruce pace.

_"I think that's why they're scared. This Scarlet Spider came out of nowhere for no reason and he's not very lenient. It scares them that they don't know who their dealing with"_ Bruce agreed.

_"How do we find him then?"_ Cassandra asked rubbing her eyes.

_"We'll try and create a situation that causes him to react. Then we'll have a talk with him"_ Batman replied as a plan formed in his head.

_"What are we going to do when we actually get him? I'm don't particularly fancy being punched by a guy who can toss an armored car around"_ Stephanie asked looking at Bruce.

_"Unless things go wrong I don't see this coming to blows"_ Batman replied as he left the room.

* * *

><p><strong>Kord Tower the next day<strong>

Kaine shot up in bed the Jackal's laughter still echoing in his ears. These constant dreams were really starting to annoy him now. Glancing to his left he saw the clock said 1pm. "Wow I actually over slept for once" he thought pushing the covers off and heading to the bathroom. As soon as he felt clean, he left the shower and pulled on some clothes. "I should probably wash this" he thought picking up the crimson suit and seeing the dried blood on the gloves. Kaine left his bedroom clutching the red suit and made his way to the lounge finding most of his hosts already there apart from Ravager. "Probably back at the gym" he thought noticing her absence.

_"Welcome back sleepy head"_ Hawk piped up as he took a bite out of his sandwich.

_"Feeling better?"_ Huntress asked poking her head out from the kitchen door.

_"Much"_ Kaine replied. He couldn't put his finger on it but from her tone, he felt she was annoyed with him.

As Kaine sat down he realized something was wrong. The birds were giving each other awkward glances as if they wanted to ask something but didn't know how to begin.

_ "What?"_ Kaine asked looking at them curiously.

_"We need to talk"_ Dinah began awkwardly.

_"Well that doesn't sound good"_ Kaine sighed looking at her.

_"It's about last night. The men in the alley."_

_"What about them?"_

_"Well Kaine you sort of killed one of them"_ Dove replied trying her best not to sound to judgmental.

_"What are you talking about?"_

_"The men who attacked the woman in the alley. On the news it said one of them was dead"_ Oracle said before Dinah could reply. They watched as Kaine ingested this.

_"It was accident. I don't even remember killing anyone"_ Kaine finally replied shrugging.

_"That's it?"_ Dinah asked looking at him shocked. _"That's all you have to say?"_

_"What do you want me to say? Oh god I'm so sorry I killed a piece of dirt who wasn't even worthy of life"_ the Scarlet Spider replied curtly. The room went silent. Helena held her breath. She didn't like where this was heading.

_"You killed someone Kaine. Don't you understand what that means or are you just choosing not to?"_ Oracle replied sternly.

_"I already told you it was accident"_ Kaine replied anger flaring in his voice.

_"Oh really?"_ Oracle snapped pointing at the blood on his costume.

_"Oh c'mon I wasn't going to let them get away without a bit of a beating"_ Kaine replied tossing the crimson costume onto the table angrily.

_"You really expect me to believe you put a bullet in someone's head by accident?"_ Barabara snapped again. Then Kaine realized what they were talking about.

_"I don't believe this"_ he growled shaking his head and getting to his feet.

_"Sit down!"_ Oracle growled.

_"NO!"_ Kaine snapped back his eyes flashing angrily. _"Its pretty damn clear you don't trust me. If you did you wouldn't be accusing me of killing someone I didn't. I don't even use guns"_ he snarled.

_"Well how the hell do you explain the fact that one of the men you attacked has a bullet through his head and the only witness they have says you attacked them?"_ Oracle continued angrily.

"_Oh and you just thought you'd believe some piece of crap before asking me what happened?"_ the Scarlet Spider replied trying his best not get angrier.

_"Ok then if it wasn't you who killed that man?"_ Dinah began, stepping in before thigns got worse.

_"I don't know some guy nut-job in a mask calling himself Red Hood"_ Kaine growled before turning away.

"Oh shit" Oracle thought realizing she'd made a mistake. There was no way Kaine could know about Todd unles he really had seen him. _"Kaine wait"_ she shouted after him as he left the table and quickly made his way to the door.

_"I'm going for a walk"_ muttered before slamming the door behind him, causing it to fall off its hinges and crash to the floor.

_"I think we may have screwed up"_ Dove sighed looking at the broken door then back to the others.

_"I'm going after him"_ Helena said walking past them and pulling on a jumper. _"He's in no condition to be on his own."_

* * *

><p>Sorry the updates a little late I should be back to consistent updates now :)<p> 


	12. Apology

**Gotham **

Kaine walked out of Kord Tower still seething. How dare they simply accuse him of something without even taking the time to ask him. A Little voice at the back of his mind began to say that it wasn't really their fault. He wasn't the easiest person to talk to but he beat down that little voice very quickly. He started to regret storming out of the tower without a jacket. Contrary to the previous day it was now quite cold out and the only thing that was currently keeping him warm was the fact he was still shaking with anger. As he walked through the streets he noticed an old building. Old was one way of putting it anyway. Completely rundown was another. A large crane with a wrecking ball stood motionless outside it.

"Obviously they decided to get rid of that piece of crap" he thought as he walked past.

Suddenly he stopped mid-stride an idea popping into his mind. No one was there they must have all been on a break. Quickly he snuck into the building. It was no better on the inside than it was on the outside. It was damp, dark and covered in dirt. Venting out his frustrations here might calm him a bit. Pulling back his hand he drove it into the nearest wall. The bricks and mortar shattered under his fist. He was actually starting to feel a little better even after only one punch. Swinging round his arm smashed through one of the support beams sending bits of wood, brick and dirt flying in all directions.

Kaine spent the next few minutes wrecking the building. Tearing walls from their embedments, crushing the metal support beams and generally wreaking destruction. Helena who had followed him all the way from Kord tower watched him with quiet curiosity. At first she had been confused when he had entered the building but soon realized its purpose once he began his rampage. Huntress had decided to remain hidden and let him vent his anger. Finally Kaine stopped, sweat dripping down his face and his breaths coming in sharp bursts.

_"Well you certainly did a number on this place"_ she remarked. Causing Kaine's head to turn to her sharply.

_"Better it be here than in the tower"_ he replied shrugging briefly before turning away to punch the last beam, the beam shattered under his blow.

_"I know we were kind of unfair with you just now and…"_

_"Save it until we get outside"_ Kaine replied, hastily grabbing her by the arm and pulling her towards the door.

_"Whats wrong?"_ Huntress asked slightly confused. It was then she heard the ominous creaking sound. That last beam Kaine had snapped must have been one of the major weight bearing ones. As they left the building the creaking began to get louder. As they quickly re-joined the street they saw the workman had come back obviously to finish the job.

_"Ok men here's the plan we.."_ one of them began but before he could finish the building made a huge groaning noise and collapsed. The workmen looked on in surprise. _"Forget it. Who's up for a drink?"_

_"Looks like you made their day a lot shorter"_ Helena said trying to catch Kaine's eye as they walked.

_"Oh yeah, I'm a saint all right"_ he replied not turning to her. She could tell he was still angry about earlier. His jaw was tight and his eyes still burned a little but he was a lot calmer now.

_"Let's find a restaurant or something. You must be freezing"_ Helena commented noticing his bare arms.

_"I'm fine"_ he replied bluntly.

_"I know you're pissed off but getting sick isn't going help anyone"_ Huntress growled. Kaine turned to look at her irritatedly. Initially he'd wanted to show he was still angry but when he saw her face had genuine concern etched onto it, he found it hard to stay mad and softened slightly.

_"Fine"_ he replied sighing and turning away before those blue eyes hypnotized him.

_"Good. I think we owe you for back there anyway"_ Helena replied smiling as she pulled him into a nearby restaurant.

_"Table for two please"_ Helena said as one of the waiter approached. The man quickly led them to a table by the window.

As Kaine sat down he realized the man was giving his hands odd glances. Looking at them he realized why. His knuckles were bleeding. "Must have been from punching those brick walls" he thought as he looked at the crimson liquid coating his knuckles.

_"I'll be back"_ he said to Helena as he got up and headed for the restaurants W.C. Helena didn't know why but she felt nervous. Not the bad type of nervousness but the excited type she used to get when she was on a date.

"But you're not on a date" she reminded herself. "This is just a sort of peace offering to apologize, nothing more."

"Keep telling yourself that" came the little annoying voice at the back of her mind.

Kaine returned a few moments later his knuckles no longer coated in red stains and sat opposite her. _"So what food do they do here?"_ he muttered picking up one of the menu's in the middle of the table. It seemed to consist of a lot of salads and a few light meals. The waiter reappeared holding a small notepad.

_"I'll have the caesar salad"_ Helena said debating briefly before handing the menu to the man.

_"Very good and for you sir?"_

_"The stake will be fine thanks"_ Kaine replied also handing him the menu.

_"How would you like it cooked sir?"_ the man asked as he took the document from Kaine.

_"Rare"_ Kaine answered noticing the man bore a strong French accent.

_"So you're a stake person huh? Well that's something else I know about you now"_ Helena stated looking at the Scarlet Spider from across the table.

_"I was under the impression this was lunch, not an interrogation"_ Kaine replied raising an eyebrow. Huntress noticed by his body language that he was back on the defensive. Jaw slightly taught and eyes fixed on her suspiciously.

_"Oh it is. I was just stating a fact"_ she said quickly leaning back in her chair and raising her hands in surrender.

Kaine looked at her strangely. He didn't understand women on a normal basis, hey what man can honestly say they did? But this one confused and intrigued him more than most. One minute she was bombarding him with questions the next she was giving him space. Helena quickly turned her blue eyes away as Kaine's gaze burned into her causing her cheeks to flush slightly. After taking a drink of water she brought her eyes back to Kaine who was still looking at her curiously.

_"What?"_ she asked trying to break his stare before it could do anymore damage.

_"You're very perplexing you know that?"_ Kaine asked as he took a drink from his own glass.

_"You're not the first man to tell me that"_ Helena replied a smile creeping across her lips.

_"I'm sure i'm not. So apart from the guy in the Cat-suit is there anyone else who may have mentioned this to you?"_

_"I've had a few Boyfriends here and there nothing ever really came of it."_

_"I'm guessing your colourful personality scared them"_ Kaine replied a smile trying to push into the corner of his mouth.

_"Jerk"_ Huntress responded quickly but still smiling. _"What about you? Many women in your life?"_ Helena instantly regretted asking as the small smile that had almost pushed through onto Kaine's face dissipated instantly. She mentally cursed herself she preferred to see him smiling than the mixture of sadness and anger that now threatened to drive its way through.

_"Let's just say my personality was a lot more colourful than yours"_ Kaine replied pushing those memories to the back of his mind.

_"So do you like any sports?"_ Helena began instantly changing the subject.

Kaine had to think about this for a moment. He was the clone of Peter Parker he only had Parker's memories and he hadn't liked sports at all so it wasn't a very easy question to answer as his personal experience with them was zilch.

_"It's hardly a complicated question"_ Huntress said smiling at him curiously.

_"I'll be honest I've never really watched a game of anything in my life"_ he admitted a puzzled expression on his face.

_"Never? Not football? Basketball? Nothing?"_ Helena asked in surprise.

_"Not really. It was never something I had time for"_ Kaine replied refilling his glass of water using the large jug in the middle of the table.

"_Never had time for? What were you doing all your life?"_ Helena replied laughing.

"I can't really tell her that my life mainly consisted of killing people and tracking down Parker so I could crack his skull in" Kaine thought. When he didn't reply Helena realized that she'd touched on his past again.

"Doesn't this guy have any happy memories?" she thought staring into his chocolate eyes. She couldn't help but feel sad that he didn't seem to have a happy thoughts.

_"Why don't we talk about you? My life as you can imagine wasn't great"_ he replied forcing a smile.

* * *

><p><strong>Unknown Location<strong>

The room was dark. Incredibly dark considering it was almost 1:30 in the afternoon outside.

_"Well what's the news?"_ the man asked looking at the masked man sitting opposite him.

_"The Secret Six performed as expected. They got most of the money back to us before the Birds could take them down" _the masked individual replied in a professional tone.

_"And they don't suspect a thing?"_

_"No."_

_"What about Poison Ivy? That was a mess up" _the man behind the desk stated, looking at the masked man opposite sternly.

_"We hadn't anticipated a new player" _his guest replied as he thought back to the news-feed he'd seen yesterday.

_"Should we be worried about the Scarlet Spider?"_

_"If you want my opinion then I don't think we should leave anything to chance."_

_"Have the men look into him. We need to know what we're dealing with."_

_"I already did" _the masked man replied handing his accomplice a file of documents.

_"And?" _the man behind the desk asked curiously as he took the file.

_"Nothing. The guy is a phantom. No known name, affiliates, trainers or nationality" _the masked man replied in a slightly confused tone.

_"People don't just appear out of thin air. Search harder."_

_"Yes sir"_ the masked man finished as he turned to leave the man behind the desk.

_"Remember William if the Secret Six find out what's going on, kill them! We can't afford a mess up like last time."_

* * *

><p><strong>Gotham<strong>

They had been in the restaurant for about an hour now and Kaine was surprised by the fact that he was actually enjoying himself. Once they diverted away from his past he found himself talking quite openly with the raven haired woman opposite him. Helena had noticed the change as well, he'd even made a few jokes during their conversation that had genuinely made her laugh. Time had passed so quick she hadn't even noticed the fact they'd eaten until the waiter came up asking if they wanted deserts.

_"I'll have the special"_ she answered before passing the piece of paper to Kaine.

_"I'll have 'le crème brulé'"_ Kaine said putting on a French accent.

_"It's la crème brulée sir"_ the man corrected him.

_"Excuse me?"_ the Scarlet Spider replied raising an eyebrow.

_"It's feminine so it's la crème brulée not le"_ the Frenchman continued. Kaine looked at him for a moment.

_"It's not feminine is it?... It's an egg custard.."_ Kaine began giving the man an impatient look. _"What do I need to know the sex of an egg custard for? I want to eat it….not fuck it."_

The waiter quickly disappeared after that and Kaine turned round to find Helena hunched over with her hand over her mouth trying to muffle the laughter that was currently coursing through her.

_"Oh so you think that's funny huh?"_ Kaine asked looking at her slightly red face.

_"Wait i'm going to need a minute"_ Helena replied breathing heavily as she tried to quell her laughter. Kaine gave her a moment to compose herself but every time it looked like she was calm she started laughing again. Kaine couldn't help but laugh slightly as well. From an observer's point of view it must have been funny.

Half an hour later they had finished their meal and got up to leave the table. Kaine's hand automatically went towards his pocket to retrieve his wallet but Huntress' hand shot out holding it in place._ "Remember this is our apology. You're not paying."_

Kaine walked out of the restaurant while Helena paid and was surprised to find it was raining.

_"Oh great"_ Huntress muttered as she appeared next to him. _"We'll probably be soaking by the time a taxi turns up."_

_"We'll if you're not opposed to getting a little wet I think I can get us back pretty quick"_ Kaine said smirking slightly as he scooped Helena up bridal style, made sure no-one was looking and leapt into the air, firing a webline from his wrist as he did. The air was instantly pushed from her lungs as the familiar feeling of flying through the air came back to Helena.

_"What if someone see's us?"_ she asked looking Kaine in the eyes and watching as the raindrops trickled down his face.

_"How are they going to do that? It's raining, not to mention at the speed I'm going we're barely a blur anyway"_ he replied obviously very sure of himself. Her stomach lurched as he released the webline and fell through the air towards the ground before pulling up at the last minute.

_"Jerk!"_ Huntress growled realizing by his smile that he'd done it on purpose. The heat from his body and the cold from the rain contrasted bizarrely making her feel oddly relaxed so she clung onto him tightly as he swung through the rain.

* * *

><p>I heard the French joke from a comedian and as French is my first language I couldn't really resist adding a joke about it.<p> 


	13. Information

**Kord Tower**

_"I hope they're both ok"_ Oracle thought as she watched the rain trickle down the window pane.

It had been two and a half hours since Huntress had left to chase after Kaine. Barbara also felt upset with herself because of how she'd acted. She should have picked her words more carefully instead of downright accusing him but it didn't help that Kaine was so damn volatile. Barbara knew from past experiences that you should never judge a book by its cover. Problem was Kaine wasn't just a closed book. He was a closed book that had been locked in a vault that had then sunk to the bottom of the ocean. Suddenly Kaine landed on the window clutching Helena under one arm.

_"Jeez"_ Barbara gasped jumping in surprise. Kaine quickly disappeared from view as he climbed round the building. _"I wish he'd stop doing that"_ Oracle muttered as she wheeled herself away from the window. It was unnerving how Kaine could just appear silently as if out of nowhere.

_"You must be freezing"_ Kaine commented as he climbed through his bedroom window pulling a soaking Helena with him. Her body protested as he separated from her, taking his body heat with him. She stood there for a moment shivering. _"You might want to take a shower or something"_ Kaine suggested as he noticed her trembling. This snapped Helena from her daze.

_"Yeah I guess I should"_ she replied pushing past Kaine towards the doorway.

_"Thanks for lunch"_ Kaine called after her as she opened the door to leave the room.

_"You're welcome. I had fun"_ Huntress replied honestly before turning back to the door.

_"What? No kiss? Or is that a second date type of thing?"_ Kaine said jokily as he pulled off his soaking wet shirt.

Helena's breath caught as he said this. She could tell he was joking but just the thought seemed to make her whole body tense. "Told you" the annoying little voice piped up again before she quickly left the room.

_"Tough crowd"_ Kaine muttered as he walked into the bathroom.

* * *

><p><em>"Well?"<em>

Helena's head span round startled at the voice. _"He's fine. I'm going to take a bath before I freeze to death"_ she replied quickly pushing past Oracle and heading to her room.

Barbara decided to take Helena's word for it and left to go back to the lounge.

Huntress entered her bathroom and turned the tap, watching briefly as the steaming translucent liquid began to fill the bath. As soon as it was half way up she shed he wet clothes and got in. The hot water warmed her skin but she noticed that paled in comparison to being pressed against Kaine.

* * *

><p><strong>Unknown Location<strong>

_"Well we fucked up"_ Catman muttered as he sat down. He was careful not to sit down too fast due to the blow Huntress had dealt him.

_"Who the fuck was the guy in red?"_ Jeanette growled studying her broken nose and cut face in the mirror.

_"No idea but he hits like a sledge hammer"_ Bane groaned. He was still feeling the effects of the Scarlet Spider's momentarily lack of control even now.

_"What did he look like?"_ Catman asked turning to Scandal who had managed to find them again after her brief phase as a hostage.

_"Relatively normal. Short brown hair, brown eyes, chiseled features but with one hell of an attitude"_ she replied, shivering slightly as she remember Kaine's blows breaking her bones.

_"It doesn't matter who he was it's over now. We wait for our payment and we never have to speak of this again"_ Deathstroke said finally making his presence known.

_"Where is the guy delivering the money anyway? Shouldn't he have been here by now?"_ Ragdoll asked looking towards the door of the apartment they were in.

Just as he said this a man in a black trench-coat and balaclava entered holding a brief case. Not saying a word he threw the object at them and watched as Catman got up and prised it open.

_"What the hell's going on?"_ Blake asked realizing that only half their money was there.

_"You did not bring us all of the money and goods from the warehouse thus you are not entitled to full pay"_ the masked man replied, his voice unnaturally grating.

_"Hold on. We said we could handle the Birds heck we even said we could handle Nightwing or Batman but you didn't tell us anything about a guy who could piledrive us through a roof"_ Jeanette began.

_"We were unaware of this individual ourselves but you assured us you could handle anything and you didn't so you don't get full pay. If you want the rest of your money then you can help us find out more about this Scarlet Spider"_ the masked man replied curtly.

_"Fuck that! Give us what we're owed or I'll…"_ Catman began moving towards the man but suddenly a Katana flashed from beneath the unkown man's trenchcoat and using inhuman speed he appeared behind Catman the edge of the blade pressed against his neck, drawing a few drops of blood.

_"You get paid what we say you get paid"_ the man hissed in Catman's ear digging a little deeper with the blade to emphasize his point.

Deathstroke watched the proceedings interestedly. The way the man moved. He was at least meta-human, his speed gave that away but his voice? That unnatural grating sound, he'd heard it somewhere before but he couldn't put his finger on where.

_"There's no need to be killing my men"_ Slade began looking at the unknown man sternly. _"You're right we did not perform as promised. If information on the Scarlet Spider is all you want so we can have our full payment then we will get you your information"_ the assassin finished. The man took the weapon away from Blake's neck and pushed him aside.

_"Just keep your men in line"_ the masked man said curtly his eyes flashing towards Slade.

It was as this happened Deathstroke caught a glimpse of the man's eyes. Normally eyes were not something Slade paid much attention to but these ones were glazed white, as if the man had very bad cataracts. He only got a brief glimpse but it was enough to illicit Slade's curiosity.

"Who the hell are you?" he thought as the man walked out of the door slamming it behind him.

* * *

><p><strong>Kord Tower<strong>

Kaine emerged from his room refreshed and wearing clean clothes. He made his way to the lounge and was greeted by Oracle who was in her wheelchair not far from the door. Her head snapped up as he entered and Kaine returned her gaze awkwardly.

_"I'm.."_ they both began at the same time. Barbara smiled. _"Sorry you go first"_ she said encouragingly.

_"Ladies first"_ Kaine insisted also smiling.

_"Ok. I'm sorry for accusing you of killing that guy without asking you first"_ she apologized, looking at Kaine a little meekly.

_"And I'm sorry I acted like a jerk. I know I'm not the easiest person to talk to but i'm working on it"_ Kaine said extending his hand. _"Friends?"_

_"Friends"_ Oracle confirmed taking is hand and shaking it warmly.

_"Looks like we're one big happy family again"_ Hank commented from his eternal seat in front of the TV.

_"Oh, here's your suit. I had Dinah clean the blood of it for you"_ Barbara said handing him the crimson costume.

_"Thanks. I was about to do that myself"_ Kaine replied gratefully taking the suit from her.

Kaine spent the rest of the day chatting with Oracle and avoiding Ravager's direct advances. He'd come to the conclusion that she enjoyed teasing him. At one point he'd tried to go into the kitchen only to have Rose attempt the feat at exactly the same time pinning them against each other in the doorway.

_"You did that deliberately"_ he'd said giving Rose the evil eye but she merely put on her most innocent expression and said she didn't know what he was talking about.

* * *

><p>It was getting on for around 7 o'clock and Kaine was almost in the mood to go out web-swinging again but before he did he decided to finish the film he'd been watching on the TV. Kaine wasn't really a TV person. He didn't really see the point in it or why people would need to distract themselves by watching it but then again, not everyone one had the distraction of being able to swing through cities at break neck speeds or jump buildings easily.<p>

This film spoke to him however. He didn't know why. Maybe it was the title characters wobbly moral compass or his inability to connect with other people but for some reason he was enjoying it. Kaine had been under the impression he was alone until suddenly he felt a presence next to him on the couch. He turned coming face to face with Rose who was dressed in a pair of very short, shorts and a tank top.

_"Look I'm not really in the mood for this right now"_ Kaine replied gruffly as he noticed the playfulness in her eyes.

_"Not in the mood for what?"_ she pressed moving a little nearer to him.

_"Your games"_ he replied turning his attention to back to the screen. He'd realized letting Rose out of his sight was a mistake as soon as he'd done it. Kaine felt her close the gap between them instantly. She lifted his arm and placed it over her shoulders before leaning her head against his chest.

_"What are you doing?"_ Kaine asked slightly taken aback.

_"Watching the film"_ she replied simply, not looking up at him.

_"Do you have to be so errr…..tactile?"_ he asked trying not to show her how uncomfortable he was.

_"I'm cold"_ Rose said again not taking her eyes off the screen.

_"Maybe if you wore a few more clothes you'd feel warmer"_ Kaine muttered deciding it was better to keep her like this than to have her trying to come onto him directly.

_"Where's the fun in that?"_ she asked laughing softly. Kaine pretended he hadn't heard what she said and concentrated on the movie.

About half an hour later the film ended. The film had been good until the end where the title character had sacrificed himself in a noble attempt to redeem himself and save the others.

"God I hate it when that happens. I'd have just snapped the bad guy's neck before he had a chance to do any damage" he thought as lifted the remote with his free arm and turned off the TV. _"Ok I'm going..mfm"_

He was cut off as Ravager arched her back, pressing her lips against his whilst bring up her left hand and running it through his short hair as her long platinum locks draped themselves over his shoulder. Kaine's head was in a whirl the feeling her crimson lips moving against his caused his mind to go blank and he simply froze trying his best to bring back rational thought. A few minutes later she broke the kiss, still looking at him hungrily.

_"What where you saying ?"_ she asked huskily. Not breaking her gaze. Kaine quickly got up and put some distance between them.

_"I'm err…going on patrol"_ he replied sheepishly. Trying to resist the burning gaze Ravager was giving him.

_"Oh c'mon live a little"_ Rose began rolling her 'eye'._ "Are you sure there isn't anything else you'd like to do before you go?"_ she asked suggestively before getting to her feet.

_"Nope I'll see you later"_ Kaine quickly blurted out before quickly making his way towards his room. He could hear her laughter as he left the room.

_"You can't run forever!"_ he heard her call after him.

He could tell from her tone that this was all a game to her. The problem was he wasn't sure if he minded if she won or not, she certainly did though. Hastily he pulled on the suit and leapt out his window in case Ravager tried again. Kaine had been severely tempted to simply let her have her way just now. What could it have hurt?

Her intent was obvious. It wouldn't have been anything serious just physical and heck it might have helped him to calm down a bit but for some reason something had pulled him away. Maybe it was his fear of being close to anyone in case they ended up like Louise or maybe it was the fact that she downright infuriated him. Kaine decided it was the latter.

Now he was swinging through the darkening city his head began to clear. He'd been swinging around for about three hours with nothing to show for it and had resigned himself to returning to Kord secretly hoping Ravager had cooled down a bit. When suddenly a scream cut through the night. Looking down to the street he watched as a figure pounced on a young woman wrenching a bag from her hands. Kaine dived quickly as the assailant disappeared down an alley. It was as he did this he noticed that the figure was quite lithe looking more like a woman than a man.

Stephanie watch in quiet awe as the Scarlet Spider followed Cassandra into the alleyway. They had been doing this for almost four hours and they were just about to give up when Cassandra caught a glimpse of him on skyline. Stephanie quickly ran to change into her suit so she could help Cassandra. Although her heart was pounding loudly in her chest as the images of the Scarlet Spider cutting lose on Ivy entered her mind.

Cassandra was dressed in her Batgirl suit and she pressed herself against the wall waiting for Kaine to appear. Suddenly a webline snapped out from behind her pulling her back and slamming her into a wall. She recovered quickly although the force of the impact had made her a little groggy. Cassandra looked at the man standing a few feet in front of her.

"How did he do that?" she thought glaring at him. No one had ever been able to take her unawares like that. Suddenly he disappeared from view before reappearing beside her. Kaine grabbed the woman by her right arm and wrenched it behind her back. Cassie looked back at the man in shock. One of her abilities was she could read muscle movements as if they were voices thus giving her an advantage over her opponent. This man's movements however were impossible. There wasn't a single voice but hundreds, all screaming different things at the same time making it impossible to predict his attacks.

Another thing that threw her off was most people emitted feelings when they fought anger, happiness, confusion, making them even easier to predict but he was silent. She couldn't feel a thing. He was loud but silent at the same time how was that even possible?

She lashed out with her free hand as fast as she could but as soon as she began the movement she felt Kaine's body shift and his other hand catch her blow. "He started moving before I threw the punch?" she thought in horror. This wasn't good, he could read her movements somehow but she couldn't read his.

_"Who the hell are you?"_ she growled as Kaine held her in place.

_"You're the one who lured me here. I thought you might have known"_ Kaine replied quickly realizing this had been a setup.

_"Oh I know you're this guy everyone has been calling the Scarlet Spider I mean who are you? Who trained you? Your fighting ability is too unique for you to go unnoticed for such a long time so my guess is you're someone who's changed their identity"_ Cass said trying to break out of his grasp but found it impossible.

It was then that Bruce stepped in. He'd been hiding in the shadows examining the Scarlet Spider to see what he could learn. From the brief amount he'd seen, he was now definitely sure that he'd never encountered this man before. His movements and fighting style were too bizarre for him not remember them. Batman crept up behind the Scarlet Spider and aimed a nerve strike to the man's neck.

To his surprise the Scarlet Spider released Cassandra with his left hand and it snapped round grabbing his own. The man hadn't even turned to see where Bruce had aimed his blow and yet he'd caught it at break neck speed and with expert precision. Batman eyes widened in surprise as the Scarlet Spider threw him forward. Lifting him clean off the ground with only one arm. He crashed into the wall and was quickly followed by Cassandra who struck the concrete to the left of him.

_"What do you want?"_ Kaine growled looking at the pair, fists clenched. They were going to tell him or he was going to beat it out of them.

* * *

><p><strong>Notes: <strong>Thanks for all the support and people who have been reviewing i'm quite surprised this story is as popular as it is. I've had quite a few pm's concerning it so i'll address the questions that i've been asked now:

_Do you plan to make Lady Blackhawk a love interest to Kaine? _No I have no plans to do this but as this story is basically just me writing without thinking ahead then I suppose it could happen but I doubt it.

_ Is there any chance we can see more Marvel characters in Birds And Spiders? _This is the only question I can answer with a fairly certain no due to the circumstances of Kaine's arrival in the DCverse

_I was wondering did you know that Kid Devil was killed in the comics? _I did not lol. That will teach me to keep up with the comics. Last I saw him he was still alive. As this is a Fanfic i'm sure you can forgive me for the few little inaccuracy's with canon ;D

_Will Sin the adopted daughter of Dinah Lance and Green Arrow and Damian Wayne appear as teenagers in Birds And Spiders?_ Honestly I hadn't even considered them. I'll look into it.

_Will Proxy (Wendy Harris) be in Birds And Spiders?/Will Calculator be in Birds And Spiders? _As I said earlier I haven't really thought ahead that far so anything is possible. If they fit in i'll use them.

_I hate to ask this but do you plan to do sex scenes? _I'm severely tempted as its not something i've ever done before and i'm always up fro trying something new but I won't go into detail and it won't be explicit.


	14. Part Of The Team

**Gotham**

Stephanie crept up behind Kaine using everything Bruce had taught her. It wasn't enough as she still tripped Kaines spider-sense. Without taking his eyes off the pair in front of him Kaine's arm lashed out grabbing Stephaine by the neck as she attempted to attack him from behind. Before tossing her at the others. Bruce quickly caught her to prevent her hitting the wall like they had.

_"I'm going to ask you one more time. Who the fuck are you?"_ Kaine snarled his fists balled and his legs flexed ready to leap. Before Bruce could stop her Cassandra replied.

_"Just concerned citizens."_

_"Wrong answer."_

Kaine moved forward quickly. It took all of Bruce's experience to predict where the blow would land due to Kaine's inhuman speed and he quickly pushed Cassandra out of the way causing the Scarlet Spider's fist to strike the wall, shattering the bricks and mortar beneath it. Jumping backwards and throwing himself into a summersault the Dark Knight freed a batarang from his belt and threw it at the Scarlet Spider. It may as well have been moving in slow motion as Kaine swatted it aside with one hand before ducking beneath a blow from Stephanie who had recovered from being thrown. He grabbed the blond Batgirl and tossed her aside. Putting a little of his strength into the gesture but not all of it. She was still a woman and although he didn't like being attacked, these people hadn't actually threatened any innocents only him and he was far from innocent.

Stephanie flew out of the alleyway propelled by Kaine's strength. She smacked into a nearby parked car and felt the wind get knocked out of her as she did. Just as Stephanie was getting gingerly to her feet a pair of weblines shot out from the alley securing her wrists to the car. She tried to free herself but found the webbing incredibly strong and due to the angle it also prevent her being able to free a batarang to cut it.

Cassandra lunged at Kaine striking a nerve cluster is his arm. Kaine grunted slightly as he felt his arm go numb but didn't let up. His spider-sense as always had warned him of the attack but he'd been to focused on Batman to heed its warning. Tearing Cassandra away from him, he threw a punch towards her head. The nimble woman only just had time to dodge by somersaulting backwards. She landed on her feet and turned back towards her attacker but to her surprise he was gone. "Where did he go?" Cassandra hissed turning to Bruce who was also looking for a sign of the Scarlet Spider. As his trained eyes scanned the darkness he saw a footstep appear in the dust. "Invisibility" he thought quickly putting two and two together.

_"Cassandra move he's.."_ but the word of warning was to late. Cassandra had also realized what was going on but unfortunately for her slightly later than Bruce. Kaine drove his fist into her stomach before disengaging the stealth mode. He threw her out of the alley into a car next to Stephanie again quickly webbing her down.

_"Looks like it's just you and me"_ the Scarlet Spider said coldly, turning to Batman. Kaine had decided to save him for last as he didn't really like getting to violent with women if there was a choice, but men? He didn't mind using more 'unsavoury' methods.

Bruce lunged forward aiming another blow to a pressure point but Kaine lept over him a stinger extended from his wrist in mid-air and he drove the tip into the Dark Knights shoulder as he landed. Batman quickly put some distance between himself and the Scarlet Spider as soon as he felt the pain. "I hadn't expected that" Batman thought grimly as he took his hand away from his bleeding shoulder. Bruce was mentally scolding himself right now. He didn't have superpowers and he used intelligence to win his fights. Being prepared and outsmarting the enemy was how he won his fights and here he was fighting someone he knew next to nothing about. It was a stupid move and he knew it.

Batman freed another pair of batarangs from his belt and threw them at Kaine. Using them as a distraction so he could close the gap between them. The Scarlet Spider dodged them effortlessly as the Bruce landed in front of him and threw a punch towards his neck. Kaine quickly ducked beneath the blow and drove his knee into Batman's stomach. Kaine had no martial arts training and he knew engaging this man in plain hand to hand wouldn't end well for him but he didn't need to fight him man to man when he could fight him man to spider. Right now he was starting not to care why they had attacked him all he wanted to do now was vent his anger.

_"What did you do?"_ Batman muttered getting to his feet and shaking his head.

Kaine's lips curled into a smile beneath his mask. The venom was starting to take effect.

* * *

><p><em>"I can't get out of this crap"<em> Cassandra snarled angrily as she tried to free herself from the sticky webbing.

_"What the hell is going on?"_

Both Stephanie and Cassandra turned at the sound of the voice. Dinah looked at the two Batgirls in surprise. She had left Kord about an hour ago to take a walk and had been attracted here by the commotion.

_"Quick free us. Bruce needs help"_ Stephanie replied urgently, struggling against the bonds.

_"Ok hold on"_ Black Canary said quickly moving to her side.

_"We were tracking this guy. Cass managed to lure him into an alleyway and he got the jump on us"_ Stephanie continued.

Dinah bent down to help free her it was then she noticed what was restraining them and her gut tightened._ "Was the guy wearing a red costume with a spider on it?"_ she asked grabbing Stephanie by her collar and looking at her threateningly.

_"Yeah"_ Batgirl replied visibly shocked by her friend's change of mood.

_"You idiots! Do you have any idea what you've….."_ Dinah was cut off as Batman came flying out of the alley blood seeping from a wound to his shoulder. He crashed to the floor not far from them and remained motionless. Kaine swiftly followed his stinger extended blood coating its tip while his other arm hung limply at his side.

_"Whoa. These guys aren't your enemy"_ Dinah said jumping in front of him.

_"You know these assholes?"_ Kaine snarled trying to push past her, anger radiating from him.

_"Calm down. There's been a mistake"_ Dinah assured him, putting herself between him and the Bats.

_"Wait you know this guy?"_ both the Batgirls said in unison.

_"Everyone take a deep breath and calm the fuck down"_ Dinah said again, turning from Kaine to the Bats. The Scarlet Spider retracted his stinger but didn't take his eyes of his assailants.

_"What did you do to him?"_ Cassandra asked looking at Bruce's unmoving form.

_"Venom. He'll be paralyzed for a while unless I misjudged the dose and accidentally killed him"_ Kaine replied coldly, eyeing the women stuck to the cars through his red lenses distastefully.

_"Could you ermmm…. unstick them?"_ Dinah asked looking at the Batgirls stuck firmly to the cars.

_"They just attacked me"_ Kaine protested. Feeling was starting to return to his arm and he flexed his fingers to try and encourage a faster recovery.

_"Hey if you didn't go round killing people we wouldn't be here"_ Cassandra snapped.

_"I didn't fucking kill anyone"_ Kaine snarled back his anger beginning to flare again.

_"Tell that to the guy with the bullet in his head"_ Cassandra muttered.

"Oh shit" Dinah thought as Kaine quickly threw her aside. His left palm smashed into the car door and his right handed stinger erupted from his wrist.

_"I didn't murder anyone. Don't make me start now"_ Kaine growled in a low voice as he pressed the tip of the stinger against Cassandra's neck. He hadn't thought at the time that this was probably undermining his argument. A bead of sweat formed on Cassandra's forehead beneath her costume as she watched Kaine's fingers rip into the metal of the car to the side of her head as if it was paper.

_"Calm down"_ Dinah said gently putting a hand on Kaine's shoulder.

He hesitated a minute before tearing Cass's hands from the car. He then proceeded to Stephanie. She looked up at him slightly intimidated as he tore her hands free from the webbing. Black Canary picked up Batman and propped him over her shoulders.

_"Give him here"_ Kaine said pulling Bruce off Dinah's shoulder and proceeded to carry the man one handed.

* * *

><p><strong>Kord Tower a few moments later<strong>

_"What the hell is going on?"_ Barbara demanded as the group entered the lounge.

_"These guys thought it would be funny to try and attack me that's what happened"_ Kaine replied scowling beneath his mask as he laid Batman out on the couch.

_"Ouch"_ Ravager commented looking at the wound in Batman's shoulder.

_"What the hell did you do that for?"_ Oracle growled examining the wound before turning back to Kaine.

_"Hey don't get bitchy with me! They're the ones who attacked me. How the hell was I supposed to know they were the local league of super losers"_ the Scarlet Spider snapped back.

_"Get down off your high horse spider-guy. You could have just told us you were with the Birds"_ Cassandra snapped pointing an accusing finger at him.

_"Oh yeah, like that would have worked. One how the hell was I supposed to know you were the so called good guys and second you were hiding in that alley fists clenched. It didn't look to me like you wanted to talk sweet-cheeks"_ Kaine snarled back.

_"Whoa whoa let's try and keep things friendly"_ Stephanie said hastily stepping in before things got worse.

_"Ok why the hell were you after Scarlet Spider and why didn't you ask us about it first?"_ Huntress asked testily. For some reason she had instinctively taken Kaine's side.

_"Look, we heard that he'd killed that guy in the alley and Batman decided we should try and subdue him him before he killed someone else. The reason we didn't mention this to you is because Batman said you guys had your hands full with this drug fiasco and he didn't want to divert you"_ Stephanie replied looking at Bruce worriedly as Oracle cleaned the wound.

_"Wait who told you we were dealing with the drug trade?"_ Ravager asked looking at the pair suspiciously.

_"Nightwing. When Batman asked for the report he said you guys where dealing with the drug trade"_ Cassandra replied sourly.

_"Wait a sec. Are talking about that guy Grayson?"_ Kaine asked looking at the pair. He'd already guessed Dick Grayson and Nightwing were the same person from their encounter on the street and the way Oracle had acted round him in the tower a few days ago.

_"You know him?"_ Stephanie asked in surprise.

_"Know him? I saved his ass a few nights back. It didn't cross his mind to mention that I was working with the Birds?"_ Kaine growled in annoyance.

_"I'm gonna fucking kill him!"_ Barbara muttered, turning back to Bruce and painting a mental picture of herself beating Richard Grayson with a frying pan.

_"Well I don't know when the report was submitted. Maybe it was before you met him"_ Stephanie suggested trying to give Grayson the benefit of the doubt. Suddenly Batman snapped upright.

_"Easy"_ Barbara said softly noticing the pain that sitting up too fast had caused him.

Bruce quickly took in his surroundings and to his shock he saw the Scarlet Spider standing to the right of him glaring daggers. He couldn't see his face due to the mask but Bruce could sense he was glaring.

_"What's going on? What's he doing here?"_ Batman asked calmly getting up and gesturing to Kaine.

_"Trying to find a reason I shouldn't beat you up some more and to be honest I'm having trouble finding one"_ Kaine replied sourly. Bruce's eyes narrowed and he glared back at the Scarlet Spider.

_"He's part of the team"_ Helena replied looking at the Dark Knight.

Kaine turned to her sharply. Part of the team? That was new. He knew that they were his friends. Well the closest thing he'd ever had to friends but being confirmed as part of their team for some reason made him feel slightly proud of himself. Bruce looked from Kaine to Barbara then back to Kaine.

_"Oracle can I speak with you?"_ he asked but it wasn't really a request so much as a demand. Oracle followed the Dark Knight out of the room and shut the door behind them. _"Do you…"_ Batman began but was silenced as Barbara held up her hand.

_"Not here. Unless you want the Scarlet Spider to hear you"_ she said remembering Kaine's enhanced hearing. She wheeled herself over to the lab and opened the door. After Bruce entered she closed it.

_"What are you thinking taking in a guy like that?"_ Bruce asked shortly, pulling off his mask as it didn't really matter here.

_"A guy like what?"_ Barbara replied sharply.

_"You know damn well what. He killed someone yesterday"_ Bruce said trying to keep his cool.

Barbara sighed._ "We've already been through this with him already. Turns out it was Jason who killed that guy not the Scarlet Spider"_ Oracle replied.

_"Are you sure about that?"_ Bruce asked frowning slightly as he took in this new information. He'd been unaware Jason was back in Gotham.

_"I'm the apprentice of the greatest detective in the world so yes I'm pretty damn sure"_ Barbara replied smiling slightly.

_"Whether he killed that man or not doesn't matter. I saw how he reacted tonight. I've been around enough killers in my life to recognize one when I see it and that guy"_ he paused momentarily to rub his injured shoulder before continuing. _"is a killer."_

_"Maybe he was at one point but people change Bruce"_ Oracle insisted.

_"I know that but I can't risk having a guy like that around you and the others"_ Batman replied. _"Do you even have any idea who or what you're dealing with?"_

_"Well I ran a few experiments"_ Barbara replied gesturing to the vials.

_"I'm the one funding this remember and I won't have a guy who looks like he'd snap a guy's neck as soon as look at him wondering around."_

_"But"_ Oracle began to protest.

_"No buts"_ Batman insisted. Then Oracle lost her temper. She didn't lose it very often but this was one of those times.

_"Listen Bruce!"_ she began, venom dripping from her voice. _"This isn't your call. Kaine is part of my team and he's my responsibility. Me and you worked together and I'm grateful for what you did for me but that part of my life is over. This is my team and these are my rules. Kaine isn't some rabid dog who needs putting down. Does he have issues? Yes he does but I'm not going to turn my back on someone simply because he exhibits violent tendencies. You want to pull the plug on us? Fine go ahead but I'm not turning my back on any member of my team whether it be Dinah, Hank, Kaine or any of the others"_ Barbara snapped back.

Oracle wasn't trying to be nasty or unreasonable. She just wanted Bruce to understand that whatever he might think, she didn't need him to protect her all the time, not anymore. Not to mention he was dead wrong about Kaine.

Bruce looked at her in surprise. She definitely wasn't the same girl he once knew. The girl who had trouble throwing a batarang in a straight line.

_"Ok"_ he relented sighing. _"But if he harms anyone. I'm taking him down one way or another so you better keep your eyes on him."_

Oracle's eyes widened in surprise. She'd managed to get him to change his mind. Barbara took this as a personal victory. This meant he trusted her to make her own decisions.

Oracle followed Bruce back into the lounge and the Dark Knight reapplied his mask before entering. Batman walked up to Kaine and extended his hand. Kaine looked at him apprehensively before shaking it.

_"It seems there was a misunderstanding"_ Batman admitted releasing the Scarlet Spider's gloved hand. With that he and the two Batgirls left.

_"He doesn't talk much does he?"_ Kaine muttered once he was sure Batman had left.

* * *

><p><em>"Can we really leave that guy with them?"<em> Cassandra asked turning to Bruce as they left Kord.

_"Barbara can make her own decisions. I owe her that much but that doesn't mean I can't know what I'm dealing with"_ the Dark Knight replied as he took a small vial of Kaine's blood out of one of the many pouches of his utility belt. He'd taken it when Oracle hadn't been watching not to mention she'd inadvertently called him Kaine so he had a name to go on.

* * *

><p><strong>Kord Tower<strong>

The next day Kaine's routine basically continued as normal. He was woken up by the Jackals laugh, spent the morning avoiding Ravager before going out do his first patrol. The people of Gotham seemed to have become accustomed to seeing him now. Although a few people still stared in surprise most of them simply acknowledged him before continuing on their way. To be honest Kaine was quite surprised at how the public had simply accepted him. Yes he got the odd news report and paper article about how he beat some of his victims within an inch of their lives but still no-one really seemed to hate him. Unlike a certain other web-swinger in another dimension.

He arrived back at Kord about 2 hours later without much to show for it. A mugging stopped, pulling a builder from wet cement when the man had fallen in and he'd even got a kitten down from a tree. Kaine couldn't help but smile slightly at the last one. It was so cliché, not to mention he didn't even like cats. As he pulled his jeans on Dinah entered his room.

_"You might want to knock in future to make sure I'm actually dressed"_ he said as he pulled on one of Hawk's white t-shirts. It was as he looked at Dinah he noticed she was dressed in martial arts robes._ "Whats going on? Is it Bruce Lee day or something?"_

_"Oracle decided that if you're going to be one of us then you need to be able to work with us and the only way to do that is understand how we fight"_ Black Canary replied leaning against the door frame. After seeing his undisciplined fighting style the Birds knew he needed to learn some basic martial arts.

_"Your joking right? I stick walls. I don't use nun chucks"_ Kaine replied in surprise.

Dinah rolled her eyes before continuing _"You won't be using nun chucks. You just have to be taught the basics so that when we fight as a team you know how we think and won't get in our way"_ she finished.

_"Me? Get in your way?"_ Kaine began raising an eyebrow. _"Whats got two thumbs and superhuman abilities?"_ he asked as he extended both his thumbs and pointed them at himself.

_"Look don't make this any more difficult than it has to be"_ Dinah sighed. _"I did you a favour by offering to do this. Ravager wanted the job of teaching you. If you like I can un-volunteer and let her do it."_

Kaine thought about this for a moment. He didn't really trust himself to be alone with Rose again. Especially in a situation that involved a lot of physical contact.

_"Ok fine. When do we start?"_ he sighed giving in.

_"Now"_ Dinah said throwing him a bundle of white fabric.

* * *

><p>A few minutes later he and Black Canary were in the gym both standing about two meters apart and wearing white martial arts clothing.<p>

_"I feel like a retard wearing this dress"_ Kaine said pulling at the fabric distastefully.

_"Its called a robe"_ Dinah replied getting a little annoyed at Kaine's obvious lack of interest.

_"Its white and drops below my hips. Looks a lot like a dress to me"_ Kaine muttered under his breath.

_"I'm going to be teaching you something called the Keysi fighting method"_ Dinah continued ignoring him. _"It's a hybrid method that uses grappling elements from Jiu-jitsu and Aikido, ground fighting from Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, close strikes and centerline defense from Wing Chun, and trapping from Jeet Kune Do. The Keysi Method teaches its practitioners to defend themselves against any number of attackers, 5, 10, 20 and even more by anticipating the next attacker, with a 360 degree range of aggression, and to observe all objects in the vicinity for their potential as weapons."_

Kaine looked at her blankly. _"And now in English please?"_

_"Never mind you don't really need to know the theory behind it. We'll dive straight into the physical side"_ Dinah continued as she moved forward. She quickly threw a punch at Kaine and he quickly caught the blow in his right hand.

_"I thought this was going to be tough"_ the Scarlet Spider said smiling triumphantly.

_"Yes you caught my blow but what about where you weren't looking?"_ Dinah asked raising an eyebrow.

_"What you mean your kick towards my ankle? I saw it and my spider-sense didn't go off so I knew you weren't going to follow through with the attack"_ Kaine replied releasing her grip.

_"Oh yes I forgot about that damn sense"_ Black Canary muttered breaking away from him. _"This is going to make training you difficult as you can not only see my blows but predict where they are going to land and if they are a significant threat. Put this on."_ She commanded throwing him a blindfold.

_"Ah my old friend"_ Kaine said sarcastically as he pulled the material over his eyes.

_"If you can learn to fight deprived of your sight with the help of your spider-sense imagine what you could do with your sight as well. Now get ready"_ Black Canary said slipping into an attack stance. Again she threw a punch at Kaine who ducked to avoid it. _"You have to follow everything your opponent does for example that punch was a decoy so I could do this"_ she moved in quickly driving her left hand into his lower abdomen and bringing her leg behind his to trip him up but to Dinah's surprise he didn't move.

_"Ow"_ Kaine muttered looking down at her, an irritated look on his face.

_"Why didn't you fall? That should have taken off balance"_ Dinah asked looking slightly confused.

_"I stick to walls remember? You can't knock me over unless I decided to consciously unstick from the floor"_ Kaine replied lifting up one foot before replacing it.

_"Stop using your abilities. If you're going to fight like us you need to act like us"_ Dinah said exasperatedly.

_"Ok fine"_ Kaine replied slight irritably.

They did this for the next two hours and much to Black Canary's surprise he picked it up quite quickly. By then end of that session he was still a novice of course but he knew how to breakout of a wristlock, where and when to strike, how to pick the next opponent in a fight and how to take advantage of an opponent's weakness. Unfortunately for Black Canary due to his inhuman durability every one of her punches felt like she was hitting a brick wall and by the end of the training her knuckles were red and a few of them were swollen.

_"Ok that's it for today"_ she said rubbing her hands as she left the gym.

_"Well how did he do?"_

The voice startled her and she turned to see Helena standing near the door.

_"Surprisingly well once he stopped using his powers and actually let me train him"_ Black Canary replied _"The only problem is that he's like hitting a marble statue. Sometimes I'm not 100% sure he feels my blows at all. Might have to wear some special gloves or something"_ Dinah finished as she rubbed her knuckles.

_"I'll help if I can"_ Huntress suggested looking at her friend's hands that had now started to bruise.

_"You?"_ Dinah said looking up at her friend in surprise. _"I didn't think teaching was your sort of thing."_

_"Maybe I'd like to give it a go"_ Helena replied shrugging.

"Or maybe it has something to do with the student" Dinah thought looking at Helena a small smile creeping across her lips.

_"What?"_ Helena asked noticing Black Canary's demeanour.

_"Nothing. Ok you can take Kaine for his lesson tomorrow"_ Dinah replied before leaving.


	15. Frustration

**Kord Tower**

The next day Kaine was back in the gym at 8am as Dinah had instructed and wearing the martial arts clothing she had given him.

_"You ready?"_

Kaine turned towards the source of the voice and was surprised to see Helena looking at him intently.

_"Where's Dinah?"_ Kaine asked in surprise. He wasn't complaining he had just been under the impression she would be his only teacher.

_"We decided to take turns. It'll give you more a feel for our team if you train with more than just one of our members. Nice dress by the way. Did Dinah give it you?"_ Helena asked raising an eyebrow as she eyed the martial arts robe.

_"I knew this looked like a dress"_ Kaine muttered.

_"Take that off and put something else on. It'll only get in the way"_ Huntress ordered.

Kaine looked at her. He could tell by how she was dressed that this was going to be a different sort of martial arts class to yesterday's one. Helena was dressed in a white running top that clung to her and stopped just above her navel exposing the lower part of her chest in conjunction with a pair of black cotton trousers. Whatever she was going teach him obviously wouldn't be easy if he had the robe flowing around him. So Kaine pulled the robe off and dropped on the floor. He didn't have time to change by the impatient looks Helena was giving him so he decided to simply stay in the vest he had on underneath and trousers that came with the martial arts gear Black Canary had given him.

_"So what are we learning today?"_ Kaine asked as he took his place on the mat in front of her.

_"Today I'm going to start teaching you something called Krav Maga"_ Helena informed him as she pulled a pair of gloves from her pocket.

_"Come again? Seriously don't any fighting styles have normal names?"_ Kaine asked as he watched her pull on the gloves.

_"Krav Maga"_ Helena repeated _"It's an Israeli combat technique that focuses on quick precise movements that are delivered to inflict maximum damage." _

It was as Helena finished clipping the gloves on Kaine realized there was something odd about them.

_"Whats up with the gloves?"_ the Scarlet Spider asked looking at them intriguingly.

In response to his question Helena lashed out sending a punch flying towards Kaine's jaw. As usual his spider-sense warned him but as usual he also didn't bother to avoid it. As soon as she made contact he wished he had. The impact threw him off his feet.

_"What the hell is your problem! And what the fuck is in those gloves?"_ he growled getting back to his feet.

"_Each of these gloves has an inbuilt taser. Of course because of your inhuman durability I had to up the output slightly"_ Helena replied a small smile gracing her lips.

_"How much is slightly?"_ Kaine groaned as he rubbed his jaw. His head was still tingling slightly from the effects.

_"Almost triple. Give or take some volts"_ Helena replied shrugging.

_"Why are you using them and why didn't you just tell me?"_ the Scarlet Spider asked scowling at her.

_"One because you need incentive to dodge my attacks. Two because you're as tough as a statue and punching you isn't that nice on my hands and three where would be the fun in telling you when it was a lot more fun to see you fall on your ass"_ she finished her smile growing wider.

They sparred for about an hour and Huntress showed Kaine the basic traits of Krav Maga. Kaine actually found himself enjoying this one. The fighting style itself favoured quick hand movements that dealt a hell of a lot of damage and Kaine could actually see a use to this martial art.

_"Good"_ Helena encouraged as he blocked her fist before twisting her into an armlock forcing the heroine to turn her back on him.

Seeing an opening the Scarlet Spider quickly wrapped an arm around her neck pulling her against him, completely negating any chance of escape. Helena's breath caught in her throat as she felt her back being pressed tightly against him and she tried to beat down the slightly 'unprofessional' thoughts that started to flash across her mind due to the physical contact.

_"I don't see you getting out of this one."_

Kaine's voice came from behind her causing her to shiver as she felt his hot breath on her ear. Kaine held her for another few seconds. His initial pride at beating her was giving way to confusion as he saw she made no attempt to escape.

_"Who says I want to get out of it?"_ Helena replied looking over her shoulder bringing her lips dangerously close to his. Kaine remained rooted to the spot as she drew in closer not sure what to do. Just as she was about a centimetre away from her lips making contact Helena lurched forward braking free and quickly driving her elbow into Kaine's chest before punching him in the jaw, setting off the taser as she did causing Kaine to fall. _"Dinah may have taught you about fair play but in a fight the enemy isn't going to fight fair"_ she said looking down at him slightly flustered and a red tint on her face. She had come very very close to just giving into the craving she was starting to develop for him just then.

Kaine looked up at her still dazed. He still wasn't quite sure how he'd gone from almost kissing her to getting knocked on his ass.

_"That'll do for today"_ Helena said quickly turning away to leave.

_"What? Dinah said said I had to do this for at least 2 hours a day"_ Kaine called after her as he climbed back to his feet.

_"I'm not Dinah"_ Helena shouted back before hastily leaving. She knew if she'd continued with his training in her state things would have gotten out of hand.

She quickly made her way to her room, entered the bathroom and proceeded to splash cold water onto her face. As Helena caught sight of herself in the mirror she could see she was still flushed. Walking back into her bedroom she fell backwards onto the bed both hands clasped over her face in frustration.

_"Rough session?"_

Helena brought her hands away from her face at the sound of Oracle's voice and turned her head towards her as she entered.

_"Something like that"_ she muttered as she lay on the bed.

_"I was watching by the way. Kaine is showing great potential"_ Barbara continued as she wheeled herself next to the bed.

_"Yeah he is"_ Helena agreed as she rubbed her forehead, feeling the heat radiating from it.

_"I think he'd do even better if you weren't making advances on him"_ Oracle replied chuckling slightly. Helena shot upright as she said this.

_"I didn't do.."_

She was cut off by Oracle holding up her hand.

_"Look I get it. He's a nice guy once you look past the tough outer-shell but you might want to act on this sooner rather than later. Believe me I know. If you've got something like that eating at you it's going to keep gnawing and gnawing at you until something more….explosive happens. I suggest you talk to him about this"_ Oracle finished putting a hand on her friends shoulder.

_"Do you think he likes me?"_ Helena asked. She actually couldn't believe she'd just said that. She felt like she was a freshman in college all over again asking her friends about some guy. Barbara couldn't help but smile at the question.

_"I'm pretty sure he does"_ she confirmed.

_"How come you managed to figure this out before him then?"_ Helena asked sighing as she lay back on the bed again.

_"That's easy. He's a guy. They don't have a good track record in reading signs"_ Oracle replied laughing.

* * *

><p>Huntress spent the rest of the day trying to find the courage to talk to Kaine about how she was feeling. Now that Helena had admitted to herself that she liked him it made things harder as it brought other, less innocent desires. Every now and then he'd do something that would seem completely innocent but for some reason would cause Helena's throat to go dry. It could be anything. The way he licked his lips after finishing a soda or simply when he stretched as he got up, causing his muscles to ripple beneath his shirt.<p>

Kaine for his part remained oblivious to the whole situation. Most of his time was spent keeping an eye out for Ravager and avoiding her when he could. This was another thing that made it harder for Helena to speak with him. Ravager's constant teasing was quite infuriating and kept Kaine on edge.

* * *

><p>It was about 8pm now and during the course of the day she had attempted to speak to him four times. Unfortunately each time she began speaking and his eyes locked on her she just trailed off which made her feel even more frustrated.<p>

Kaine had noticed something was up by the third time. He couldn't really tell what it was but he could tell something was off about her maybe it was something to do with the training that morning? Finally he decided he'd ask her about it.

As the Scarlet Spider entered the lounge he found that all of the Birds apart from Huntress who was laying on the couch seemed to have disappeared. Kaine was of course completely unaware of the fact the Oracle had intentionally dragged the others out for a drink so that Helena could have some alone time with Kaine. He watched the raven haired woman on the couch curiously. By the way she was breathing he could tell she wasn't sleeping not to mention the fact she was holding her hands over her face in frustration also gave it away. She was obviously reflecting on something and whatever it was it seemed to be causing her a lot of trouble.

Helena at that moment in time had been thinking about exactly how she was going to broach the subject of her feelings to Kaine but the right words didn't want to come.

_"Per l'amor di dio"_ she cursed in Italian pulling her hands away. Her Italian heritage didn't come through very often and it was generally a slip of the tongue if she was upset, stressed or simply out of control of herself.

_"I didn't think you Christians where allowed to say that."_

The voice practically made Helena leap to her feet.

_"Sorry didn't mean to scare you"_ Kaine said chuckling as he sat down on the couch and Helena sank back down onto the material beside him.

_"Its ok and I'm Catholic"_ she corrected him.

_"Sorry. Didn't know there was a difference. Social studies were never my strong point"_ Kaine admitted as he lay back. _"You're also Italian right?_" Kaine knew that with a name like Bertinelli she must have had foreign ancestry and he was pretty sure it was either Italian or Spanish.

_"Yes I grew up there"_ Helena replied realizing that she had actually forgot to mention this to Kaine during their first heart to heart.

Seeing the look on Helena's face Kaine realized he'd reminded her of her parents so he quickly changed the subject. "Where's_ the rest of the happy days gang?"_ he asked referring to the Birds.

_"Oracle said they needed a break from all the work they've been doing trying to track down the drug dealers. Dinah has been practically working 24/7. When not training you of course"_ Helena replied. She knew this wasn't the direction she wanted the conversation to go but Kaine had taken her off-guard appearing like that and this was giving her time to compose herself.

_"You didn't feel like going?"_

_"I felt like a night in"_ Helena said beginning to relax. When Kaine didn't respond a small silence fell over them. "Ok here goes" Helena thought inhaling sharply. Kaine turned to face her as he heard the noise to find Huntress looking at him purposefully.

_"Are you ok?"_ he asked as he noticed her chest rising and falling heavily as she breathed.

_"Yes I'm fine I just.."_ Helena began but instead of finishing her sentence she leaned in wrapping her arm around his neck and brought her lips so close to his she could feel his breath on her face.

Kaine froze again as he always did when anyone made any kind of physical contact with him that he couldn't comprehend. He wasn't exactly sure how to react. Should he reciprocate? Should he stop it before it went any further? Kaine came to the conclusion that he should let Huntress decide so he remained still letting her do whatever she wanted and allowing the the exotic perfume she was wearing to ensnare him.

Her lips brushed against his and Helena was just about to seal the deal when a loud beeping noise caused them both to jump.

"For fucks sake" Helena cursed to herself, her eyes flashing angrily towards a control panel in the corner of the lounge. She turned back to Kaine who was still staring at her slightly nervously. Helena couldn't actually believe her bad luck and the nervousness coupled with the desire reflected in Kaine's eyes almost made her ignore the alarm and do exactly what she wanted right there but she knew she couldn't ignore it. So she got to her feet and made her way towards the control panel, frustration evident in her steps.

_"This better be fucking important"_ Huntress growled as she tapped away on the keyboard. _"Oh god"_ she gasped all anger quickly giving way to horror as she read the words on the LCD screen.

_"What the hell is Arkham Asylum?"_ Kaine asked appearing beside her and looking at the panel from over her shoulder.

_"I'm contacting the other Birds and Batman. We're in for a really shitty night!"_ Helena replied grimly as she pulled out her coms unit.


	16. Security Breach

**Kord Tower**

_"Would someone please mind telling me what the fuck is going on?"_ Kaine demanded as he watched the Birds moving hurriedly around their base grabbing supplies.

_"There's been a security breach at Arkham Asylum"_ Hawk informed him as his costume materialized over him.

_"Whats so bad about this asylum? Isn't it just a place for nutbags?"_ Kaine asked trying to comprehend the Birds of Prey's panicked state.

_"Yes but this one is for the criminally insane"_ Oracle replied as she tapped away on the keyboard._ "Ok Batman is already en route he'll most likely be there before we are. He's sent a message to Nightwing telling him inform Tim in case this thing gets out of hand"_ she said as the LCD screen flashed infront of her. "_You guys need to go now!"_

_"Kaine get your suit on"_ Dinah ordered pushing past him.

_"Wow anyone would think it was the end of the world"_ he muttered as he pulled of his T-shirt to reveal the crimson suit beneath.

They made their way quickly down to the bottom floor of Kord and Kaine was surprised to find they had a garage there. He watched as Helena made her way over to her motorbike and straddled it.

_"Here"_ she said throwing him another helmet.

_"Don't worry about me i've got alternative transport remember?"_ the Scarlet Spider replied pointing to his wrists.

He and Helena hadn't actually spoken since their almost kiss about half an hour earlier and Helena was starting to think she may have come on a bit strong. This subject was also quite prominent in Kaine's mind at that moment. He hadn't even realized she thought of him in that way and he couldn't figure out why she liked him. He knew he wasn't the easiest guy in the world to get along with considering his baggage and he couldn't understand why someone like her would want something broken and scarred like him.

The door to the garage rose in front of them and the bikes sped out followed closely by the Scarlet Spider.

_"Ok so what's the deal here? Go in beat up the bad guys and go home?"_ Kaine spoke into the earpiece taking his mind off Huntress for a moment.

_"You make it sound so simple"_ Oracle replied darkly from her computer screen. _"Some of the guys in there aren't human per say. Their tough one at a time but all of them together? We're in for a long night."_

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile at the Titan's Gotham Base<strong>

_"Tim? It's me don't set off the security"_ Nightwing shouted as he walked into the Titans Gotham base. When Batman had told him to tell the Titan's about the breakout he had instantly called his 'little brother' and Tim had then made a beeline straight for Gotham telling Dick to meet him at the Gotham base. It was as Nightwing entered the base that he knew something was wrong.

The place was deserted and dark, only a few lights were on giving rooms an eerie glow. Tim should have been there by now. He pulled a pair escrima sticks from his belt and moved silently and quickly round the base.

"Nothing" he thought confused as his search produced no results.

Then he heard it, a small swishing sound of something cutting through the air. He instinctively ducked and rolled to one side as a knife struck the wall where his neck had been only a few seconds ago. Nightwing turned round ready to face his attacker but no-one was there.

_"It's been a long time Grayson"_ came a low grating voice.

Richard froze as he realized this stranger knew who he was. His eyes scanned the darkness looking for any sign of the assailant. It was then he heard the sound again and rolled aside as katana cut through the darkness behind him. As soon as he turned back the katana and the hand wielding it disappeared into the blackness.

"Who the hell is this guy?" Dick thought again looking for any sign of his attacker.

Suddenly a sharp pain ran through his left leg and Nightwing looked down to see the katana's glistening blade slice through his leg then retract. Again he wheeled round throwing a blow towards where the man should have been but it hit nothing but air. He felt another twinge of pain as the katana cut into his back.

"Whats going on? No-one is that fast or that silent. The last time I saw some like that was…." He froze in his thoughts. _"Oh god no. Not again"_ he gasped in horror as the man stepped out of the shadows.

* * *

><p><strong>At that moment in an apartment somewhere in Gotham<strong>

Bringing the bottle to his lips Jason took one last gulp of the larger it contained before throwing the bottle into the pile of other empty bottles. The TV screen flashed in front of him illuminating his small dark apartment with its glow. Jason Todd who was currently relaxing and only wearing a pair of pyjama trousers watched the images flash on the screen in front of him, even though he wasn't actually watching the television itself. He was too busy thinking about what had been going on the past few days.

Criminals had been exceedingly active recently. He remembered seeing the report of Poison Ivy's attempted escape, Shiva's bank robbery and not to mention this drug that had mysteriously appeared as if from nowhere and then there was the Scarlet Spider.

Jason hadn't been lying when he'd encountered him. He did like his style and how the Scarlet Spider didn't pull his punches against the scum of this city unlike a certain bat themed hero did. Maybe given a little time he could get him to see things his way but currently his mind was focused on the crime rise. Although the Scarlet Spider's appearance seemed cut petty crime down a lot it was still rare to have so many high profile occurrences in such a short space of time.

He muted the TV and lay back into the couch so he could think straight. It was a good thing too as no sooner had he muted the TV he heard the footstep. Jason's hand sped down the side of the couch and his palm wrapped around the grip of the pistol he kept hidden there. Red Hood spun round and quickly fired two shots where the stranger should have been. Whoever it was leapt aside slightly taken aback by the speed of Jason's reaction. Jason just saw the glint of a blade as it disappeared into the darkness.

_"So who are you? Some guy I pissed off in the past?"_ Jason asked chuckling darkly as he scanned the shadowy apartment.

He heard a noise from the opposite side of the room and fired another two shots in its direction. Suddenly the figure launched itself at Jason from the shadows and Todd hissed as he felt the blade enter his shoulder. Jason used the momentum to throw them both out of the nearby window. The glass smashed as they both fell through and Jason made sure he was on top of the assailant as they both hit the floor. Jason only lived a few floors up so the fall wasn't enough to kill either of them but he was pretty sure that the man beneath would have quite a few broken bones.

_"You!"_ Jason said in surprise as he got a good look at the figure beneath him. _"Oh brilliant this again!"_ Red hood muttered before putting the barrel of the gun against the man's head and pulling the trigger.

* * *

><p><strong>Gotham <strong>

According to Oracle they were less than 30minutes from Arkham. Kaine swung down to street level so he could keep track of the Birds. He didn't know where they were going and if he stayed high up in the buildings he risked losing them. Suddenly the buildings began to thin.

"Oh great" the Scarlet Spider thought as he realized he wouldn't have anywhere for his webs to latch onto for much longer. Looks like he'd have to take Huntress up on her offer after all. He swung down and landed gently on the back of Helena's purple motorbike as it sped through the streets. Huntress almost jumped as she felt Kaine's presence behind her.

_"Sorry no more buildings to swing from"_ Kaine shouted so he could be heard over the rushing wind.

_"Ok hold on tight"_ she shouted back and involuntarily shivered as she felt his arms encircle her waist.

Kaine had done his best not to be to perturbed about what had almost happened back at Kord but it was quite hard not to just then, when the woman who had been causing said thoughts was in front of him and he had his arms wrapped around her. As soon as he realized she liked him, Kaine had started to look at her in a whole new light.

He had always found her attractive to begin with. Well who wouldn't? Her ash colored hair and ocean blue eyes that contrasted perfectly with her skin made her look stunning but he had never really considered that anything could happen between them in that way. The truth was Kaine had spent so long considering himself the scarred monstrosity he had been all those years ago that he had a lot of trouble seeing anything else when he looked in a mirror. Old habits died hard and he just couldn't see why Helena would be interested in a monster like him. Maybe that was why he hadn't seen it coming. He still saw himself as the monster but maybe she didn't. It had been hard enough when Ravager had started coming onto him. Although she wasn't the sort of person he would consider partner material the fact Ravager looked at him in that sort of way physically had also confused him quite a lot at the time but maybe he was starting to understand now.

Helena crouched over the handlebars and tried to ignore the sensation of Kaine's hands on her waist as they sped down the road. Right then Helena would have given anything to know what he thought of her. She knew they were going to have to talk when this was over but she really wished she knew what he was thinking. Did he like her as much as she liked him? Was he intimidated by the way she had come onto him? Had she scared him off?

"Oh for Christ's sake get a grip! You're on your way to Arkham Asylum where there will be every single super-psycho ever put away trying to kill you and yet the thing you're worried about is if the guy behind you likes you!" she scolded herself.

_"I've just got a transmission from Batman"_ Oracle's voice spoke in their ears through the coms unit. _"It's bad. Every facility has gone down and the inmates are running riot. Batman is currently trying to find the Joker as he seems to have disappeared in all the commotion." _Kaine noted a lot of tension in her voice as she spoke of the Joker.

_"Who the hell is the Joker?"_ the Scarlet Spider asked through his coms. He felt Helena tense in front of him and there was a small silence until Black Canary spoke up.

_"He's a psychopath. A sadistic mass murdering piece of crap"_ she said bitterly.

_"That's not it though right?"_ Kaine replied. He heard the tone in their voices. Whoever this creep was he'd done something to them personally. Kaine heard the same tone of bitterness in his own voice whenever he spoke of the Jackal. _"Well?"_ he pressed.

_"He's…he's the one who crippled me"_ Oracle admitted. Helena's breath caught as she felt Kaine's arm's tighten violently around her. She could positively feel the anger resonating from behind her as they sped towards Arkham.

_"Then I just have one question"_ Kaine began teeth clenched. _"Why the fuck is he still breathing?"_

_"Whoa we aren't killing anyone"_ Dinah spoke up quickly, recognizing Kaine's change in tone.

_"So this sick bastard gets to cripple someone. Not just anyone but a friend of yours and gets away with it? If he'd done that to any I knew he would be in a morgue not an Asylum!"_ the Scarlet Spider snapped back.

The communication went dead again. The main reason was simply that everyone on it agreed the Joker should be dead for he'd done, not just to Barbara but many others and yet the Birds weren't killers. They were better than that.

_"Look its complicated"_ Barbara began_ "When you get back I'll explain. Just don't kill anyone! Please!"_

_"Fine"_ Kaine sighed.

_"Promise me!"_ Oracle insisted.

_"Ok I promise"_ the Scarlet Spider said bitterness still evident in his voice. He didn't like the idea of this Joker getting off scott-free after he'd crippled Oracle of all people.

* * *

><p>A few minutes later they sped through the gates of Arkham.<p>

_"Jeez. The place looks like something out a low budget horror movie"_ Kaine commented as he saw the gate's ornate gothic design.

_"You wait until you see the building itself"_ Hawk's voice crackled down the earpiece.

_"Oh you have got to be joking"_ the Scarlet Spider said as the motorbike came to a halt in front of Arkham.

_"Told ya"_ Hawk said laughing slightly as the Birds regrouped.

_"This is an Asylum? Who the hell designed it? Dracula?"_ Kaine muttered looking at the huge building covered in gothic architecture that stood before him.

_"Ok so what's the plan?"_ Ravager asked swinging her sword in anticipation. Before anyone could reply a new voice suddenly appeared on their coms.

_"Is this the Brids Of Prey?"_ Kaine instantly recognized the voice as Batman's.

_"Yeah its us"_ Zinda replied.

_"Don't go in the front there's too many try and find an alternative route and whatever you do don't go in the.."_ he was cut off as a smashing sound resonated over the transmission.

_"Yo Bats? You still there?"_ Ravager asked tapping her earpiece.

_"Looks like he's being kept busy"_ Dinah said as she began scanning the asylum for a possible route in.

_"This could take ages we need to get in and help him"_ Dove said anxiously, as she too tried to spot a way in.

_"Ok we'll split into teams. Hawk and Dove you go left. Ravager and Zinda you go right. Me Helena and Kaine…"_ But before Dinah could finish the Scarlet Spider jumped ahead of them scaled the sheer wall with blinding speed and climbed in the attic window.

_"Kaine what the hell are doing!"_ Black Canary demanded into her earpiece.

_"I'm flying solo on this. I can turn invisible remember? Having a partner would just get me noticed in these conditions. You guys go find a way in I'll go find Batman"_ the Scarlet Spider replied as he turned on his cloaking device and crawled out of the attic into the Asylum.

_"Ok just be careful"_ Helena replied, worry showing in her tone.

_"I'm always careful"_ Kaine replied jokily. Suddenly a large bang came over the earpieces.

_"Kaine? Kaine are you alright?"_ Helena said fearing the worst.

_"Son of a bitch! Who the hell builds doors that low anymore?"_ the Scarlet Spider snarled down the line as he rubbed his head.

_"C'mon lets go. Kaine's got this"_ Hawk said trying not to laugh before pulling Helena with them as they went to look for an alternate route.

* * *

><p>The Scarlet Spider crawled along the ceiling of one of the long corridors that seemed to make up Arkham. "How the hell am I supposed to find tall dark and batty?" he thought as he began to realize just how big Arkham was. He made short work of a few thugs here and there by simply webbing them up as he passed. None of them seemed to understand what was happening as Kaine's invisibility was active the entire time. A banging noise caught his attention and he followed it as quickly as he could. A few minutes later the corridor widened out into a what looked like a reception hall.<p>

It was there he saw policemen and guards under attack by the inmates. He recognized one them. It was the same man he'd seen that time he'd fought the green skinned woman.

"Gordon that was his name right?" Kaine thought as he lept at a man who was about to jump the officer from behind disengaging his invisibility as he did. The Scarlet Spider wasn't sure who was more surprised the thug he jumped or Gordon as a flash of red and black tossed the thug aside.

_"Good to see you again son"_ James said recognizing the Scarlet Spider. With the arrival of Kaine the tables of the fight turned dramatically as the he proceeded to web multiple assailants to the walls and knock them out in one hit.

_"I've got it from here!"_ Gordon shouted to him as the Scarlet Spider pinned another inmate. _"Another guy needs your help more than I do!"_ he finished pointing to the window.

Kaine followed his gaze into the grassy courtyard and just caught sight of Batman dodging an attack from what looked like giant lizard.


	17. Divided

**Arkham Asylum (Scarlet Spider/Batman)**

The Scarlet Spider didn't hesitate and lept through the window which shattered under his weight. Firing a webline he swung forward kicking the large reptile sending it crashing into the ground.

_"Glad you're here. They were starting to tire me out"_ Batman commented as Kaine straightened up.

_"They?"_ Kaine questioned.

_"Yeah."_

_"The other guy is right behind me isn't he?"_ Kaine said lifting his hand and pointing with his thumb over his shoulder.

_"Yep I'd move if I were you"_ Batman replied as he quickly re-engaged Killer Croc.

_"Oracle I found tall dark and brooding"_ Kaine spoke into his earpiece as he lept to one side to avoid a fist that crashed into the ground where he had been standing.

_"Ok just try to stay alive you two"_ Oracle replied breathing a sigh of relief that they were both ok. Turning to face his opponent Kaine couldn't help but be a little taken aback by his attackers appearance.

_"So who the hell are you? The amazing mud-man?"_ the Scarlet Spider quipped as he lept to one side. "Dear god I'm starting to sound like Parker" he thought.

_"Clayface"_ the creature snarled as it lashed out with its fist.

Kaine dodged it and punched the creature in the head as hard as he could. The creature's head smashed under his fist but it didn't seem to do any damage as Clayface kept fighting even with his squashed head. After a few minutes of dodging and trading blows with the creature Kaine realized brute force wasn't even phasing it.

_"Mind if we trade dance partners?"_ Kaine asked as he found himself back to back with Batman. The Dark Knight nodded and Kaine somersaulted over him landing on the Lizard creature's chest. Using his ability to stick to walls he clung to the reptile and delivered a series of blows into its stomach. "Its like punching a brick wall" the Scarlet Spider thought as he struck the creature's think hide. "I come to another dimension and there's still a giant Lizard wanting to kill me? Someone up there is definitely screwing with me" he thought as he lept off Killer Croc's chest to avoid a blow.

_"Spider can you get me some room?"_ Batman shouted as he threw a batarang that stuck Clayface squarely in the head.

* * *

><p><strong>Arkham Asylum (RavagerLady Blackhawk)**

_"This place has gone to the dogs"_ Ravager commented as she struck an inmate in the head. The Birds Of Prey had split up into separate groups now. Each one trying to find a route in. Eventually she and Blackhawk had opted for the back way.

_"Well to be fair it probably looks better when there aren't a bunch of lunatics running about"_ Zinda replied as she drove he fist into one man's neck cutting off his airflow. A few punches later and all their assailants lay slumped on the floor. _"Would you look at that! Zero fatalities. That must be some kind of personal best for you!"_ Zinda quipped turning to Rose who rolled her eyes.

_"Which way now?"_ Ravager asked as she looked at the two dorrs that lay before them.

_"Well that one leads to the courtyard and that one leads to the visiting area so I guess we head to the courtyard"_ Zinda replied as she walked over to the door and pushed it open.

_"I thought you said this led to the courtyard"_ Ravager said as she took in her surroundings. It looked like some kind of greenhouse.

_"Oh it does. It's just they have this little garden thing to make the visitors and employees feel more relaxed"_ Zinda replied as she pushed some vegetation from in front of her.

_"Hey. Do you smell that?"_ Rose said putting her hand on Zinda shoulder to stop her. Lady Blackhawk stopped in her stride and sniffed. A sickly sweet smell filled her nostrils.

_"Probably just the plants"_ she suggested shrugging.

_"I doubt it!"_ Ravager said quickly grabbing Zinda nad tossing her aside as a branch lashed towards her. Rose cut the branch cleanly in two and it fell to the floor.

_"You hurt my baby"_ a venomous voice resonated through the dimly lit room.

_"If we get out of this I'm going to find whoever thought it was a good idea to build a fucking garden in this place and tear him a new one!"_ Rose muttered as Poison Ivy stepped out of the shadows.

_"I see you've had a change in attire"_ Zinda commented getting to her feet and raising an eyebrow.

_"Clothes are too confining plants need room to breathe and so do I"_ Pamela replied turning her eyes shamelessly to her bare green skin. _"So how many of you are there?"_ Poison Ivy asked pushing a lock of red hair from her face.

_"Seven"_ Rose replied instinctively covering her mouth as she did.

_"What the hell did you tell her that for?"_ Zinda asked looking at Rose in confusion.

_"She couldn't help it. Neither of you can now you've breathed in my pheromones"_ Pamela replied looking at them incredulously. A crash caused the women to look out of one of the large glass windows in time to see Scarlet Spider and Batman engaged in a furious fight with Killer Croc and Clayface. _"So he's here to"_ Poison Ivy muttered watching the darting crimson figure as he weaved between Clayface's and Croc's blows. She also felt a small pang of fear run through her as she remembered what had happened last time she and Kaine had met.

Zinda and Rose took this moment of distraction to lunge at Ivy. Pamela didn't even turn her head as the plants around her automatically came to her aid. Ravager cut her way through the vines as they lashed around her tearing at the fabric of her costume. Fortunately she wore a suit of scalemail beneath the fabric and the vines bounced off it harmlessly. Zinda lept back pulling another gun from a strap on her leg as the previous one was knocked from her hand by a branch. Unsheathing the weapon she took aim at Ivy's leg but before she could pull the trigger Ivy raised her hands and the earth in front of her exploded as huge tree roots erupted from the ground sending earth flying in all directions and knocking Ravager off her feet in the process.

Before either of them could recover they found themselves pushed against the wall next to the door they had come through and entangled in Ivy's vines.

_"I need you to do one more thing for me"_ Ivy said walking over to them and stopping in front of the two women who struggled against their restraints.

_"Go to hell"_ Ravager spat back.

_"I need you to attract his attention"_ Ivy finished consciously causing the vines to tighten round the two women.

* * *

><p><strong>Arkham Asylum (HawkDove)**

_"How do you think the others are doing?"_ Dove asked turning to Hawk as they crept through one Arkham's many corridors.

_"I'm sure their fine. If something was up we'd have heard it over these babies"_ Hawk replied tapping the small device in his ear.

_"Yeah. You're right"_ Dove replied although she remained unconvinced.

_"Oracle how far are we from the control room?"_ Hawk asked into the receiver.

_"Not far it's the next left"_ Barbara informed him.

_"Any news on the others?"_ Dove asked concern evident in her voice.

_"Zinda and Ravager have taken the back route in. They shouldn't be far from the courtyard by now. Last time Kaine checked in he'd just found Batman. Helena and Dinah went dark a few moments ago when they went to check the maximum security wing. I'm worried guys. As soon as you're done in the control room go to maximum security"_ Oracle replied as tapped away on her keyboard attempting to locate Huntress and Black Canary.

Hawk and Dove's current objective was to get to the control room and try to turn the security systems back on not to mention to see if they could find the surveillance tapes that might show them who was responsible for this breach.

_"Ok this is the control room"_ Dove said pushing open the door. As they walked in they were surprised to find a man dressed head to toe in black fiddling with one of the control panel.

_"Hey! Get away from there!"_ Hawk said immediately taking a fighting stance.

The man didn't respond but his hand flashed to his belt and without even turning round to look at them he threw multiple knives in their direction. The duo only just had time to dodge as the knives struck the exact area they had been standing a few seconds ago. In fact the man hand been so fast he'd managed to clip Dove's leg as she jumped aside.

"Damn that was fast" Dawn thought as she felt the blood trickle down her leg.

She watched as Hank charged forward aiming a blow towards the unknown man's head. The man's hand snapped up and he blocked the blow effortlessly still not taking his attention off the control panel.

"_Ok enough of this"_ Dove muttered to herself as she lunged forward to help Hawk. She threw a punch towards the individuals exposed back but her fist never made contact as the man's left leg lashed out blocking her blow.

The black clothed man was now standing on one foot with one arm raised parrying Hawk's blow and yet he still hadn't even so much as looked at them as he continued tapping away on the control panel with his free hand.

"Ok this is bad" Dove thought as the man turned his head round to finally look at his assailants.

His face was completely obscured by a black balaclava but Dove could have sworn he had white eyes. The man shifted his weight threw himself upward kicking both Dove and Hawk in jaw with both feet. As he forward somersaulted over the control panel his hand sped out and he hit a button just as he hit the floor on the other side of the control panel.

_"This guy's got moves"_ Hawk commented rubbing his jaw.

"That's putting it lightly" Dawn thought as she approached the control panel cautiously. Whoever this guy was he had practically decked them both without even giving them his full attention.

_"On three"_ Hawk said as he approached the control panel from the opposite side. _"3….2….1!"_

They both leapt round each side ready to pounce on opposite sides ready to grab the man. _"He's gone"_ Hawk gasped his eyes wide as he came face to face with Dove.

_"That's impossible. We were watching this area the whole time and there's only a few shadows he could have possibly used for escape. No one is that fast or silent!"_ Dove replied her head snapping round looking intently for the man but the room was empty.

* * *

><p><strong>Arkham Asylum (Scarlet SpiderBatman)**

_"Some room coming right up!"_ Kaine shouted. Leaping backwards he snagged the lizard creature he was fighting with a webline and pulled hard throwing him towards Clayface. The two villains collided and the mud creature splattered across the ground.

_"Thanks for the breathing room. It gives me a chance to do this"_ Batman said pulling a few round objects for a pouch on his belt and tossing them at the villains. They exploded and when the smoke cleared the both Clayface and Croc were frozen in place. _"Enhanced liquid nitrogen. That should keep them down long enough for us to get this taken care of"_ Batman said turning back to Kaine.

_"What else have you got in that belt?"_ Kaine asked jokily as they turned back towards the asykum.

_"Everything"_ Batman replied smiling slightly.

A shout caused both their heads to snap round. _"That came from over there!"_ the Scarlet Spider said quickly turning and running towards the outbuilding.

_"No wait don't just run in there it's her element we need to…."_ but Kaine didn't hear the end of Batman's warning as he crashed through one of the large glass windows. It was quiet and Kaine moved silently as the moonlight spilled eerily onto the floor.

"What the hell is this? Some kind of greenhouse?" Kaine thought as he looked at all the exotic plants surrounding him. There was an odd smell. It was Exotic entrancing. Kaine simply put it down to the plants. It was then he saw Ravager and Zinda. They were both tied to a wall by what looked like vines. The leaves covering their mouths. Suddenly Batman appeared beside them.

_"How the hell do you appear out of nowhere like that?"_ Kaine muttered as he walked forward to help Batman free the Birds. Just before he was within a few feet of them Batman freed Zinda's mouth.

_"Behind you!"_ she shouted looking past the Scarlet Spider in horror.

Kaine's head snapped round. His spider-sense hadn't gone off, that wasn't normal. The green woman he'd fought a few days earlier was standing there. She was wearing decidedly less than last time in fact she was completely naked apart from the plants that crawled over her skin. Whether it was the shock of his spider-sense not going off or simply her appearance Kaine didn't react as quickly as he should have.

_"Hello again"_ Poison Ivy said smiling as her hand shot out, pulling the Scarlet Spider's mask over his mouth before slamming her crimson lips into his.

_"No!"_ Batman shouted from behind them as finished freeing the Ravager and Lady Blackhawk from the vines. He knew what Ivy was doing.

Kaine went limp as the red-head kissed him. "What the hell are you doing? Throw her off!" he shouted inwardly but he couldn't. His head began to spin as Ivy deepened the kiss by forcing her tongue into his mouth. She tasted sweet, sickly sweet. Pamela broke the kiss, licking her lips she looked at him intently with her emerald eyes.

_"Kill them"_ she said pointing at the hero's behind him.

_"Oh crap"_ Ravager said as the Scarlet Spider turned towards them.

_"Well that's not good"_ Zinda commented worriedly as Kaine's stingers snapped from his wrists.

* * *

><p><strong>Notes: <strong>I'm sorry to anyone who is currently following Shield: Black Ops I've been away for a few weeks and I forgot to transfer the .doc file over to my laptop so i'm behind on that story i'll try and get the next chapter out over the next few days.


	18. What Do You Fear?

**Arkham Asylum (Batman/Scarlet Spider/Ravager/Lady Blackhawk)**

_"Jeez"_ Ravager said as she jumped sideways to avoid one of Kaine's stingers.

Zinda pulled out a gun trained it on the Scarlet Spider and aimed a few wounding shots. Kaine had already moved before her finger had pulled down on the trigger. The bullets shot from the muzzle and embedded themselves in a wall harmlessly.

_"Ivy let him go!"_ Batman shouted as he parried a blow from Kaine before countering with his own attack. The blow caught the Scarlet Spider on the chest but if he felt it he didn't show it.

Pamela stood back smiling as she watched the Scarlet Spider tear into his former allies. She didn't know why her pheromones hadn't worked before but she was fairly sure that physical contact with her new toxin would succeed where they had failed and she'd been right. Ravager lunged towards Kaine and just sliced his costume as he leapt back sending a little splash blood flying into the air.

"He's slower" Ravager thought looking at him curiously rolling to one side as he retaliated.

_"It's the toxin"_ Batman said as if reading her mind._ "He's not fighting at 100% due to the fact free will isn't so easily stripped."_

_"So he's fighting back in there?"_ Blackhawk asked as she she came up behind Kaine and twisted him into a wrist lock. To her surprise he countered perfectly. Shifting his weight and slamming the back of his elbow into her stomach causing her to double over and release her grip. He followed through quickly by throwing her over his shoulder twisting her wrist in the process.

_"Looks like teaching him martial arts wasn't such a good idea now huh?"_ Ravager said as she helped Zinda to her feet.

_"No shit"_ Blackhawk replied pushing Ravager aside as Kaine lunged forward again.

_"Pamela let him go! You'll kill him!"_ Batman shouted at the green-skinned woman who was now sitting on a giant fern leaf not far away from them watching the fight unfold.

_"Oh please. I've evolved past that now. I have no desire to kill him. He's much more useful to me alive as a pet. I didn't poison him I simply gave him a dose of a special hormone I've been concocting for a while. Last time I fought this man my pheromones didn't seem to have any effect so I figured something a bit more powerful was in order"_ Poison Ivy replied smiling as she watched her pawn attack the Birds and Batman. _"and the only way for me to administer it was via physical contact so a touch could have sufficed but that wouldn't have been as fun!"_

The Scarlet Spider knocked Zinda to one-side as he landed on Ravager pinning her to the ground. Holding her down with one hand Kaine pulled back his other arm stinger already extended, preparing to impale the woman beneath him.

_"Although I've fantasized about having you on top of me this wasn't exactly what I had in mind"_ Ravager quipped shifting her weight and spinning her body away as the stinger struck the ground where her chest had previously been. As she said those words she could have sworn she saw Kaine's face twitch beneath his mask.

Batman took this opportunity to quickly strike Kaine in the side of the head forcing the Scarlet Spider to relinquish his hold on Ravager. The crimson figure span through the air dodging an attack from Zinda that flashed beneath him and threw a punch towards Batman as he landed. Batman was only just fast enough to dodge the incoming blow.

_"We need to snap him out of this"_ Zinda shouted as the Scarlet Spider twisted swinging his leg towards the dark knight's head.

Bruce quickly ducked as the red boot flew towards him. "Shit we can't keep this up forever" he thought. Then he remembered the experiments he'd made on the vial of Kaine's blood he'd acquired. As the foot sped over his head Batman quickly rose and then much to the Birds and Ivy's surprise he slapped Kaine across the face with a gloved hand.

The Scarlet Spider shook his head angrily before throwing another punch towards Bruce. Batman side stepped and slapped again.

_"What the hell are you doing? You're just pissing him off"_ Ravager said moving to Batman's side and helping parry the strikes as saw the Scarlet Spider's blows get stronger and more rage filled.

_"That's the idea"_ Batman replied calmly. As he took the chance given to him by the intervention of Ravager to slap Kaine again.

_"Well it's a stupid idea"_ Zinda said also stepping in to help. _"Have you ever seen him when he's angry? Its not pretty!"_

_"I ran some experiments on his blood. His metabolism is exceedingly fast and impurities get filtered out quickly. The hormones Ivy gave him was obviously extra strong but if we get him angry it will kick his metabolism into overdrive by causing a huge release of adrenaline!"_ the dark knight explained dodging another strike from a crimson fist.

"That's why he twitched just now when I made that comment" Ravager thought realizing what had happened "it annoyed him."

Batman began to deflect a blow but to his surprise he was unable to hold it back and was thrown from his feet. "There's more strength behind his attacks" Bruce thought as he hit the wall. "He's getting angry. Good!"

Ravager took the opportunity to strike Kaine in the neck. As he bent slightly she grabbed him by the shoulders a drove her knee into his groin.

If the Scarlet Spider wasn't angry before then he certainly was now. His gloved had lashed out and struck Ravager in the stomach lifting her off her feet and she was sent crashing through one of the large glass windows into the court yard.

_"Rose!"_ Zinda cried in alarm as she saw the full force of the blow. Suddenly the Scarlet Spider was in front of her. Blackhawk began to raise her weapon but Kaine swatted her hand aside and wrapped his left hand around her neck. Batman was back on his feet and quickly drove his fist into Kaine's spine before he could choke Zinda out.

With an enraged grunt the Scarlet Spider relinquished his grip and the blond woman fell to the floor coughing. Kaine lunged forward aiming a blow to his assailant's leg. Much to Batman's surprise the blow didn't hurt as much as it should have. Before he had time to work out why another blow stuck him in the stomach stunning him. Like the previous blow this one lacked force.

As Bruce staggered back he realized why. They weren't meant to hurt him, they were meant to trap him. Long strands of webbing were connected to the two areas Kaine had struck and protruded from his wrists. Suddenly the Scarlet Spider lept to the ceiling the web-lines following. Batman was pulled from his feet and left suspended in mid-air.

_"Shit"_ he cursed as he realized Kaine was taking him into his element. He began to produce a batarang to cut the strands but more weblines shot out from all directions securing him in place as the Scarlet Spider ricocheted round the greenhouse.

_"Ouch"_ Ravager muttered getting to her feet and pulling a shard of glass from her arm. Shaking her head to get rid of the dizziness she began to run back towards the outbuilding. _"Whoa"_ she gasped her blue eyes widening as she climbed back in through the window she'd been thrown through.

The entire room had become entangled in a massive web. As Rose looked to the centre of the web on the ceiling above she could see Kaine crouching over Batman who was completely cocooned in webbing. The only thing that gave the figure away as Batman was the two black pointed ears that protruded through the top of the cocoon.

Zinda got to her feet her neck still trobbing painfully from Kaine's grip. _"I'll help Bruce you try and take care of Ivy"_ she said turning to Rose and picking up her fallen weapon before letting off a few shots in Kaine's direction.

The Scarlet Spider disappeared as soon as Zinda pulled trigger again only to reappear next to her. "Damn that sixth sense" Blackhawk cursed to herself. His hand shot out and he grabbed her wrist. Drawing back his other arm Kaine readied to plunge the stinger into Blackhawks chest. Zinda closed her eyes readying herself for the blow but nothing happened. Opening one eye she could see the Scarlet Spider was frozen in place his arm trembling. The adrenaline had started to take effect.

_"Hey you in there big guy?"_ she asked putting her hands on his masked face and shaking his head from side to side.

_"Just"_ he managed to growl back.

Poison Ivy got to her feet as Kaine slumped to the floor. "The effects are wearing off? The dose was enough for 10 men it shouldn't have worn off that fast" she thought, of course completely unaware of Kaine's inhuman metabolism. _"Well if you want something done you've got to do it yourself"_ she muttered as she readied to finish them off.

_"Couldn't have said it better myself!"_

Pamela's head snapped round just in time to see Ravager's sword plunging towards her. The green-skinned woman screamed as she felt the blade drive into her abdomen. Ravager had been sure to miss any vital organs but made sure to do enough damage that she stayed down. Rose then rushed back over to Zinda who had lifted Kaine to his feet and propped him over her shoulders.

_"You ok?"_ Ravager asked putting Kaine's free arm over her own shoulders to help Zinda take the weight.

_"What happened? Feels like someone scooped my brain out with a spoon"_ Kaine muttered shaking his head.

_"Ivy drugged you. Don't worry its over now"_ BlackHawk informed him.

_"Where's bat-guy?"_ the Scarlet Spider asked, gently pushing the two women aside to stand by his own volition.

_"Up there"_ Blackhawk informed him pointing to the shuddering mass of web above her head.

_"I did that?"_ Kaine asked in surprise as he looked at the enormous web.

_"Well none of us can spin webs now can we?"_ Rose replied sarcastically as looked Kaine up and down. He seemed a little battered but not very worse for the wear.

Suddenly the webbing above split open and Batman fell to the floor clutching one of his batarangs. It had taken him a while to cut through the thick webbing but he was free now.

_"Welcome back"_ Batman announced blandly as he realized Kaine was back to normal. _"Where's Ivy?"_ he asked quickly remembering the woman who had caused the trouble.

_"Over there. I tagged her pretty good"_ Ravager explained pointing to the crumpled form on the floor.

_"Guys you there?"_ Oracles voice crackled over the earpieces.

_"Yep we're here"_ Zinda replied placing her hand against her com-unit so she could hear better.

_"Hawk and Dove are at the control room trying to turn on the security but someone has tampered with it so they are going to be stuck there a while. Can you guys get to maximum security? I lost contact with Huntress and Black Canary a little while ago."_

All of Kaine's fatigue and aching dissipated instantly and he straightened up quickly. _"Which way to maximum security?"_ he growled into the microphone.

* * *

><p>The group made their way through Arkham heading for maximum security taking down a few inmates they encountered on the way.<p>

_"I wonder if Dove and Hawk have managed to fix the security system yet?"_ Lady Blackhawk asked as she trotted alongside Kaine. Kaine turned to her briefly giving her an odd look from beneath his mask.

Zinda Blake was the only member of the Birds of Prey who still confused Kaine. Mostly it was her demeanour that did it. She was constantly in a good mood, nothing ever seemed to faze her or get her down. She was always bubbly and talkative. Zinda had also shown no fear at the Scarlet Spider's presence the first time he'd arrived almost as if she'd liked him the moment he'd arrived and knew he was a friend.

_"You should have shot me back there"_ Kaine said ignoring her previous question.

_"Shoot you?"_ Zinda looked at him in surprise. _"Why would I do that? It wasn't your fault you were attacking us."_

_"Doesn't change the fact that if your plan had failed I could have killed you or one of those two"_ the Scarlet Spider replied pointing over his shoulder at Ravager and Batman who hung back guarding the rear. _"If anything ever like that happens again you don't shoot to wound. You put me down. When I'm unhinged like that I'm dangerous too dangerous"_ Kaine replied images of his past life flashing across his mind.

_"I don't kill my friends"_ Zinda replied firmly.

_"Back there I was far from your friend. You should have taken me out"_ Kaine said fixing his gaze on the path ahead.

_"We always give people the benefit of the doubt. Heck you did the same for Batman. You thought he was trying to kill you but you let us explain what had happened. Do you really think so little of yourself that you'd want us to kill you if ever something happened to you that was out of your control?"_ Blackhawk asked puzzled.

_"Yes and don't hesitate because if ever I'm that far gone I won't"_ he replied darkly.

_"Stop it!"_ Zinda snapped her good natured demeanour fading slightly. _"There is no way in hell any of us would try to hurt you if something like that happened again. Huntress said you blamed yourself for things you'd done in the past well you got through that so you'll get through anything else that's thrown at you in the same way."_

_"You have no idea what I've done"_ Kaine replied his eyes flashing angrily. _"Or what I'm capable of doing when I'm out of control. You think the version of me you saw with Scandal was the extent of what I'd do unrestrained? Because let me tell you it isn't."_

_"You know what you need?"_ Zinda said looking at him and raising an eyebrow.

_"A drink?"_ Kaine replied sarcastically still focusing on the path ahead.

_"A girlfriend! Someone to keep you in line and kick your ass when you fall out of it!"_ Blackhawk said a long smile spreading across her face.

_"Are you offering?"_ Kaine replied chuckling. The blond woman stopped briefly and looked him up and down.

_"Although I can think of a lot of fun we could have together"_ she began, putting emphasis on the word 'fun'_ "I don't think you're really my type."_

_"Ditto. I don't date women of your age either. I think World War 2 is where I draw the line"_ Kaine replied chuckling as he ducked beneath playful blow from Zinda. _"Hey guys how far are we from Maximum security?"_ the Scarlet Spider questioned looking over his shoulder to Batman and Ravager. He stopped dead when he saw both of them had disappeared. _"Where'd they go?"_ he asked turning back to Zinda but to his dismay she had also disappeared. "What the hell is going on?" he thought spinning round and scanning the dimly lit corridor.

_"Alone again huh?"_ came a cruel venomous voice. Kaine's gut clenched as he recognized it instantly. The Jackal stepped out of the shadows into the light of one of the naked light-bulbs that glimmered along the corridor. _"Whats the matter son? Aren't you happy to see your old man?"_ the Jackal asked his lips curling into a smile showing his white pointed teeth.

_"You can't be...Y-you're not"_ Kaine tried to speak, tried to make sense of the situation but he couldn't.

_"You really thought you could escape me?"_ the creature broke out into maniacal laughter. _"Oh Kaine you really were the funniest of my creations. In more ways than one"_ professor Warren continued still smiling. _"A failed experiment managing to take on a life of its own? Talk about a wooden puppet turning into a real boy"_ he finished breaking out into a fresh bout of laughter.

The Scarlet Spider tried to move. Tried to throw himself at the demon, wanting nothing more than to silence its laughter and wipe the grin from its leering face but he couldn't. His head felt like it was on fire and he fell to his knee's clutching his head in his hands.

_"W-what did you do to me?"_ he hissed through gritted teeth.

_"You did this to yourself"_ the Jackal replied more seriously this time. He walked up to the hunched over form on the floor. _"You thought you could change? Hah you're a monster! My monster!"_ the Jackal finished producing a mirror and placing it infront of Scarlet Spider's face so he could see his reflection. A scream caught in Kaine's throat as he saw the disfigured degenerating face looking back at him.

* * *

><p><em>"Wow Crow was that an extra strong batch or something?"<em> Harley Quinn inquired looking down at the writing form of the Scarlet Spider.

_"Nope he's obviously got some issue's with fear"_ Scarecrow replied amused, looking down at his handywork. He'd released a small dose of his fear toxin in a gas form into the corridor and the group of hero's had been completely unaware of it until it was too late. The four hero's lay on the floor convulsing as their worst fears were projected directly into their minds. _"Batman will recover first. We should take care of him while we can"_ Crane said his mask curling into a smile as he bent over Batman holding a knife. A blow on to the side of his head caused him to stagger away.

_"What the fuck is your problem girl"_ he demanded looking at clown girl angrily.

_"That's a bad Mr. Crow you know Mr. J wants Bats alive"_ Harley Quin replied cheerfully.

_"I don't take orders from the Joker"_ Scarecrow growled angrily.

_"You really wanna upset Mr. J?"_ Harley inquired raising an eyebrow.

Crane considered his options for a moment he was reasonably sure the Joker probably had something planned. Messing that up might not put him in the psychopth's good books and he didn't really facy the idea of having him on his tail.

_"Fine"_ he sighed.

_"Oh I'm glad we can still be friends! I hate to have to kill you Crowy!"_ Harley celebrated clapping her hands.

_"Lets get them to the Joker"_ Crane said bending down infront of Kaine and extending his hand.

_"What are you doing?"_ Quin asked curiously.

_"It's a little improvement I made. It allows me to communicate with my victims as they are hallucinating. I can make them do what I want."_

_"Are you sure interfering is a good idea? It might break the illusion?"_ Harley asked watching the four heros writhe around on the stone floor.

_"Would you prefer to carry them all then?"_ Scarecrow replied in a condescending tone before turning his attention back to the Scarlet Spider's writhing form.

* * *

><p><em>"You killed her Kaine"<em> the Jackal cackled grabbing him by the head and turning it towards a figure standing to his left. Louise Kennedy stood there her neck swinging at the sickening angle Kaine had left it in the last time he'd seen her. Her dead eyes staring at him vacantly. Kaine wanted to vomit his chest convulsed but his throat was dry and hoarse._ "Pathetic"_ the Jackal finished releasing his head allowing Kaine to slump to the floor. _"You're nothing without me. Come on son take my hand. I'll help you"_ Warren said offering his hand.

As soon as he said those words Kaine went rigid and a small smile spread across his face and he felt his mask reappear over his face as the illusion began to fade. He looked up at the Jackal and got to his feet quickly. His enhanced movements returning to him.

_"Is that supposed to happen?"_ Harley asked surprised at the speed Kaine had just moved at and looking warily at the gaze the Scarlet Spider currently had fixed on her and Crane.

_"I don't know who you are"_ Kaine said looking at the Jackal. _"but you just made a mistake."_

_"Oh and what was that?"_ Warren replied his mocking tone showing a hint of nervousness.

_"The **REAL** Jackal has never ever said anything like that to me before. The **REAL** Jackal would spit on me as soon as help me"_ Kaine replied as the hallucination began fade revealing Scarecrow and Harley Quinn._ "Got you"_ the Scarlet Spider growled venomously quickly falling into a predatory crouch.


	19. The Bird And The Spider

**Arkham Asylum**

_"Oh shit"_ Crane cursed as Kaine landed on him.

Harley took a swing at the Scarlet Spider with a crowbar she had suddenly produced from behind her. Still drowsy from the toxin the crowbar struck Kaine in the back and he hissed in pain before placing one hand around Scarecrows neck securing him to the floor before lashing out with the free one to tear the weapon from Quinn's grasp. As soon as she was disarmed the woman backed away.

Kaine was about to chase her when he felt a stabbing pain in his chest and looked down to see Scarecrow's syringed finger tips sticking into his chest. Scarecrow's form began to wobble in front of his eyes only to be replaced by the Jackal.

_"That won't work again"_ the Scarlet Spider snarled looking at his creator._ "This isn't real and neither are you!"_ he finished punching the Jackal's leering face. He felt sharp twinges across his chest as Scarecrow slashed him with the knife he'd had earlier. As he felt the warm liquid trickle down his stomach he knew he had to end this before Scarecrow did any serious damage. How he managed to pull those punches when he was in such a sorry state of mind Kaine had no idea but he unleashed a barrage of blows into the form beneath him that was currently shape-shifting between a laughing Professor Warren and a badly beaten Scarecrow.

Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned ready to face who he thought must have been Harley but to his surprise he found Batman staring down at him holding Quinn by the scruff of her neck with his free hand.

_"It's over he's out cold. There's no need to do anymore damage"_ the dark knight said solemnly looking at the bloodied body beneath Kaine.

Shakily Kaine got to his feet. The combined effects of the drugs and wounds he had sustained where starting to take their toll. It was then he realized Orcale was shouting at him down his earpiece demanding to know if he was ok.

_"Jeez Babs. I'm good. No need to deafen me"_ Kaine replied rubbing his forehead to try and stop the throbbing.

_"Finally. I heard you scream and thought the worst. What did you just call me?"_ Orcale replied breathing a sigh of relief.

_"Calling you Barbara all the time is a bit of a mouthful"_ Kaine replied slumping down against a wall wearily.

_"I hate that nickname"_ Oracle huffed from the other end of the line which caused Kaine to chuckle.

_"You stay there and rest for a moment. You took a lot of toxin"_ Bruce said looking at the sorry state Kaine was currently in. He then turned his attention to the woman in his grasp. He'd come round a few moments ago. Having faced Scarecrow before it hadn't taken him long to breakout of the hallucination whereas the other two members of their team where passed out on the floor. The reason Kaine had broken out before him was because Scarecrow had interfered. _"Where's the Joker"_ Batman asked glaring at Harley from beneath his cowl.

_"Oh Bats he's got all sorts of things prepared for you! I can't tell you what because it'll spoil the surprise"_ the blond clown replied ecstatically.

_"Where is he?"_ Batamn demanded again his demeanour darkening.

_"Oh he's somewhere in the Asylum waiting for you to come and find him!"_

_"Would you just punch her or something already? Her voice is giving me a headache!"_ Kaine moaned from his position propped up against the wall.

_"I see you've made a new friend B-man"_ Harley commented turning her attention back to Kaine. _"He's got a nice suit but he's awful rude don't ya think?"_ she continued giving the Scarlet Spider an inquisitive look.

_"Where is he?"_ Batman asked again louder this time. He was starting to get tired of this.

_"I already told ya B-man you've got to find him"_ Harley replied rolling her eyes._ "and if you don't find him quick enough you lose the game and your two little Bird friends go bye-bye!"_

Kaine's eyes snapped open and he shot to his feet. His eyes locked on Harley.

_"Where are they?"_ he asked his voice almost a whisper but both Batman and Quinn could hear the deadly tone behind it.

_"He really is rude isn't he? He should listen more I already told you that…"_

Before Harley could finish her sentence the crimson figure was on her his hand clamped around her neck and he wrenched her from Bruce's grasp before slamming her against a wall.

_"Wait don't hurt…."_ But Batman's protest was cut off as he was hit by a stream of webbing shot from Kaine's wrist securing him to the wall.

Kaine knew he didn't have long. The dark knight would be out of that soon. Whether it was adrenaline or simply the will to find the two hostages Kaine had completely forgotten his injuries and newfound energy poured out from somewhere. Harley looked nervously down his arm into the two red lenses. Batman she knew, Batman she could predict this man on the other hand was a complete stranger to her. Fortunately as he was with Batman that had to mean he was like the others. Didn't it?

_"I'm going to ask you one last time. Where are they?"_ the Scarlet Spider asked his tone deadly serious.

_"Sorry bug-man. Mr. J doesn't want me to spoil the surprise"_ Quinn replied defiantly. She thought he would just ask a few more times then give up so she was surprised when he extended the ring finger on his free hand and pressed it against her chest. _"Find something you li…."_ She began but she was cut off by her own scream as Kaine applied pressure to his finger breaking one of her ribs.

_"Kaine what the hell was that?"_ Oracle demanded down the line hearing the scream but Kaine ignored her. Harley hissed in pain through clenched teeth and looked at him a slight glimmer of fear flashing across her eyes.

_"Where are they?"_ the Scarlet Spider asked again in a low voice. When she didn't respond straight away he slowly and calmly lifted his finger up a few centimeters before pushing and snapping the next rib. Again Harley howled in pain as the bone shattered and the Scarlet Spider felt her spasm beneath his grip as she began to cough.

He quickly stole a glance at the web cocoon and saw Batman was almost free. Not even asking the question this time Kaine moved his finger up to the next rib and pushed. This time he quickly put his hand over Quinn's mouth as she began to scream. After she had stopped he took his hand away and placed his finger on the next rib.

_"Up till now I've been very careful not to cause you any real damage but this next rib will drive into your lungs when I break it and you will drown in your own blood unless you tell me what I want to know NOW!"_ Kaine finished making eye contact with Harley through his red lenses.

_"KAINE WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?"_ Barbara shouted at him down the line but again the Scarlet Spider paid her no heed. Nothing was going to stop him finding Helena and Dinah. Nothing. Least of all a woman with a clown fetish.

_"They're in the east wing. Third door on the right"_ Quinn hissed realizing that he wouldn't have any qualms about breaking every bone in her body one by one if it meant getting the information. Kaine released her and she slumped to the floor clutching her chest in pain.

_"Kaine what the fuck was that?"_ Oracle asked again not so loudly this time.

_"Results"_ the Scarlet Spider replied coldly just as Batman broke out of the webbing.

_"What the hell is your problem!"_ Bruce demanded closing in on Kaine and making eye contact.

_"By the time you'd got anything out of her the others could be hurt or worse"_ the Scarlet Spider replied returning the dark knight's glare.

_"What did you do to her?"_ Batman demanded pointing at Harley.

_"A few broken ribs. She'll live"_ Kaine replied giving the woman a distasteful glance.

_"You tortured her?"_ Oracle gasped down the line.

_"You didn't need to do that"_ Batman growled. _"I could have cracked her. She always ends up talking."_

_"I couldn't take that chance"_ the Scarlet Spider replied simply before turning to walk away.

_"Where the hell do you think you going?"_ Bruce snapped angrily as Kaine turned his back on him.

_"I'm going to go kill that son of a bitch before he cripples someone else"_ Kaine said not turning to look back at Batman.

_"I won't let you"_ Bruce said defiantly, grabbing his arm.

_"Care to try and stop me!"_ the Scarlet Spider snapped back his head whirling round.

_"Kaine cut it out! You promised me!"_ Oracle's voice resonated in his ear. The Scarlet Spider hesitated for a moment.

_"You-you're right. I won't kill him"_ Kaine said in a slightly defeated tone and Batman relaxed his grip._ "but I never said I wouldn't tear a few of his limbs off!"_ he finished quickly punching Batman in the face, being careful not to put in so much strength that it would kill but just enough that it would put him out cold.

Both he and Bruce had been through some rough ups and it wouldn't take much to KO either one of them in their current state. Batman hadn't been expecting the attack. He didn't have time to roll with the blow or cushion it. So he took the full force of Kaine's fist into his head which promptly knocked him out.

_"Bruce? BRUCE?"_ Oracle shouted worriedly down the microphone. _"Kaine what the fuck did you do?"_ she demanded trying to mask her nervousness with anger.

_"He's fine but he'll probably have a bump on his head when he comes round though"_ Kaine replied as he pushed Batman into a nearby room before returning to pick up the other two unconscious heros and place them in the room with him. The Scarlet Spider then webbed the door shut. Not to stop Batman or the others getting out but to stop any of the inmates getting their hands on them while they were unconscious. Kaine guessed that Batman wasn't that well-loved here and should they find him or one of the Birds in such a vulnerable position then that wouldn't be very pretty.

_"Kaine you don't have to do this!"_ Barbara pleaded down the line.

_"Wrong. I do. He's got Helena and Dinah somewhere and I'm not going to risk what happened to you happening to them. I won't kill him if I can help it but if he gives me a reason to I will!"_ Kaine replied darkly.

_"Kaine you promised me!"_ Oracle pleaded again.

_"I lied. Wouldn't be the first time"_ the Scarlet Spider replied pulling the earpiece from his ear and putting it into a small compartment on the interior belt of his suit. He knew he'd have Oracle screaming in his ear if he kept it in.

_"God damn it!"_ Barbara cursed from in front of her computer screen as the line went static. She couldn't really blame Kaine for how he was acting she was well aware he and Helena had something going on but this only served to make her even more worried. If he thought that maniac was going to hurt either Dinah or Helena. Especially Helena. His emotions might run riot and he wouldn't be able to hold himself back.

* * *

><p>Kaine crawled along the ceiling deadly intent showing in his every movement. The adrenaline or whatever it was that had dulled the pain from his wounds was starting to fade and his whole body began to protest with every movement but he ignored it. Normally his mind would have been focused on finding and killing this Joker for what he did to Oracle but right now all he could think about was if Dinah and Helena were ok. Especially Helena.<p>

When she'd come close to kissing him those two times he'd felt the familiar rush that most people got when someone they liked attempted to start something. Was he falling for her? As this thought leapt to his head Louise's dead staring eyes flashed into his head. Those eyes haunted him, a constant reminder of the horrific thing he'd done. Granted Louise hadn't been honest with him to a point most people would call it betrayal but he'd killed her in cold blood. He'd been so angry at the time all he'd seen was red. Even if he did like Huntress he wouldn't inflict his curse on her.

A few moments later the Scarlet Spider reached the door to the room Harley had told him was where the Joker was holding Huntress and Black Canary. Dropping to the ground he pushed the door open. To his surprise a large box covered in green wrapping paper and tied up by a red ribbon greeted him. His spidersense wasn't going off so whatever it was, it wasn't dangerous. Kaine decided to ignore it and tried to move round it but as he did the box flew open throwing confetti in all directions as a large clown head on a spring emerged and a small tune began to play. A figure began to move out of the shadows at the opposite end of the room obviously attracted by the noise.

_"No, no, no Bat's your supposed to arrive later I still haven't had time to…"_ the voice trailed off as the Joker stepped out into the light and got a good look at the Scarlet Spider. For a moment a look of surprise appeared on the Joker's face which to anyone who had any dealings with him would know is a once in a life-time experience. _"Well, well. Here I am waiting for a Bat and I get an itsy bitsy spider"_ the Joker said a smile spreading across his face.

Kaine walked over to the man and grabbed him by his purple dinner shirt. The Scarlet Spider could tell by his appearance that this was one sick man. Green hair, white face make up and a red substance that could have been lipstick trailed along a scar that traveled across his mouth.

_"Oh goody I do love making new friends but don't you think we're moving a little fast? You are in my personal space and I'm not that kind of guy"_ the Joker said mockingly completely unfazed by Kaine's grip on him.

_"Where are they?"_ the Scarlet Spider asked venomously.

_"Who?"_ the clown asked innocently still grinning.

_"I don't like playing games clown"_ Kaine hissed trying not to lose his patience.

_"Oh you mean my guests? They're a little 'wrapped up' at the moment"_ Joker replied breaking out into a bout of maniacal laughter and gesturing behind him with one arm.

Kaine followed it with his eyes and saw another four boxes covered in wrapping paper like the last one and propped up against the wall a few meters away. These were marginally bigger than the other he'd found when he'd entered the room and looked large enough to hold a human. While he was momentarily distracted the Joker's hand whizzed inside his jacket pocket and pulled out a small device with a big red button on. The Joker's finger pushed down on the button and he kept it there.

_"I wouldn't do that if I were you"_ the Joker said smiling as the Scarlet Spider reached out to disarm him. _"As long as my finger is on this button those little boxes over there don't go boom!"_ Kaine wanted to punch the thing in front of him but that wasn't a very smart move if those boxes really were rigged. If the clown's finger was lifted off the button then that would be it. _"Now were going to play a game. Its called pop goes the birdie! In two of those boxes are the people you're looking for. In the other two are ten pounds of plastic explosive. It's up to you to guess which is which. If you refuse to play I blow them all. If you try to open all the boxes I blow them all. If you choose the right one the girl in it can live but if you choose one of the duds then the remaining one goes boom!"_

Kaine glared into the man's leering white face before releasing him.

_"That's a good Spidey. Hey Spidey! I like that name"_ the Joker said placing his free hand on his chin thoughtfully. The Scarlet Spider walked over to the boxes. He didn't like playing this freaks game but it was best to play along for the moment. He reached out to the nearest and felt his spidersense begin to go off. "Not that one then" Kaine thought. He may be playing the Joker's game but it didn't mean he had to follow the rules. It didn't take him long to work out which ones the two women were in and he quickly tore them open.

They were both out-cold, tied up and the Joker had put make up on their faces in the same style he had. Both of them had a piece of their costume missing just below their chest and the Joker had a carved a smiley face into their skin with what must have been a very jagged knife. Kaine's eyes flashed angrily towards Joker who was looking quite un-amused at how easily Kaine had found them both.

_"Well that was boring. I think I'll blow them anyway to liven things up"_ he replied smiling as he took his gloved finger off the detonator. Kaine didn't even have to yell and quickly threw himself over the two women hoping to protect them from the blast.

A small bang resonated through the room and more coloured confetti flew into the air.

_"Hahahahaha you should have seen the look on your face when I took my finger off the detonator. Well I couldn't see it either but I'll bet it was a hoot"_ the Joker said laughing manically. Realizing it had been a trick Kaine got to his feet eyes blazing and turned to the Joker. _"Ok this is the real one. I promise this time"_ the clown said pulling out another detonator and putting his finger on the button.

Before the Joker could react a webline shot from Kaine's hand securing his finger to the button so he couldn't pull it away. Then Kaine was on him. The Scarlet Spider's fist collided with his chest and the Joker buckled as the wind was knocked out him. Meanwhile the women began to stir at the sound of the fight.

_"What happened?"_ Helena muttered looking at Dinah who was lying next to her.

_"I don't know"_ Black Canary replied groaning.

_"Holy…you've got face paint on"_ Huntress said in surprises as she saw the make up on her friend's face.

_"So have you"_ Dinah replied. A crash from the other side of the room caused them to turn to find Kaine beating the Joker. _"Jeez we need to get out of these restraints quick"_ Black Canary as she saw the excessive force the Scarlet Spider was currently using.

_"Get up"_ Kaine snarled looking down at the Joker. When the man responded with nothing but maniacal laughter the Scarlet Spider bent down grabbed him by the front of his shirt, pulled him to his feet before bringing the man close to his face and making eye contact through his red lenses. _"Not so funny now is it?"_ he growled resisting the urge to rip the clown limb from limb.

_"How about another gag to get things going again then?"_ the Joker asked grinning. _"Here. Smell my flower!"_ he said pushing the small synthetic poppy clipped to his shirt towards Kaine's face.

The Scarlet Spider was been taken unaware by such and odd attack and the gas that suddenly streamed out of the flower caused his head to spin. A sharp pain ripped into his shoulder as he quickly moved away and he guessed the Joker had stabbed him. He just needed a second to clear his head. Suddenly the Joker slashed him twice more but this time across his already injured stomach. Kaine tripped over something behind him and fell onto his back.

_"Do you know how I got this scar?"_ the Joker said crouching down and grinning at him as he gestured to the long wound that traversed his mouth with the bloody knife edge.

_"No"_ Kaine grunted trying to clear his head _"but….I…know….how…you got this one!"_

The Jokers eyes widened in surprised as a stabbing pain tore into his chest. He looked down to see a long pointed object protruding from Kaine's wrist and tearing its way into his stomach.

_"Hahahahahaha"_ the Joker began to cackle as blood began pour from his mouth. _"Looks like you had another trick up your sleeve"_ the clown said before breaking out into more hysterical laughter at his own joke as he fell back.

"Does this guy actually not feel pain or is he really just that insane" Kaine thought as he got up gingerly and watched the Joker roll around laughing in his own blood.

He placed his foot on the Joker's leg and felt the bone snap beneath it. This however only served to enflame the Joker's maniacal laughter. The Scarlet Spider bent over him stinger still extended. Kaine placed the tip of the weapon beneath the Joker's chin.

_"Any last words before I drive this through your damn skull?"_ he snarled looking into the Jokers smiling face.

_"Hahahahaha you're lot of fun you know that Spidey?"_ the Joker replied _"Really you are! If me and Bats didn't have our little thing going on you would definitely be top of my list. Don't be jealous I like you too I just don't think it would work out between us"_ the Joker finished giving Kaine a look of mock sadness. Kaine was just about to drive the stinger through the clown's head when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

_"Don't do it"_ Helena said from behind him. _"I'm fine. He didn't hurt us"_ she finished softly.

_"I should still kill him. He'll only get out and hurt someone else"_ Kaine replied still not loosening his grip on the Joker or turning to look at her.

_"Don't. He isn't worth it. Please. For me"_ she finished trying one last time to change Kaine's mind.

_"Ok fine"_ the Scarlet Spider replied sharply getting to his feet and pulling the mad-man with him. _"Do not mistake me clown"_ Kaine began, staring into the leering eyes of the Joker._ "If it wasn't for the lady behind me you would be dead. You owe her your life pathetic life."_

_"Oh you really are just as fun as Bat's. You're a lot more fun to talk too though. He doesn't talk much. I think that's what's missing in our relationship! More communication!"_ the Joker replied as he began to cackle again but was forced to stop as he choked on some of his own blood. Kaine quickly webbed the Joker to the wall leaving his face free so he could breathe.

_"C'mon lets go"_ Dinah said breathing a sigh of relief as she realized Kaine wasn't going to snap. Just as Kaine turned away he froze.

_"Oh I almost forgot something"_ he began turning back to the Joker who was still smiling manically. _"You did something to a friend of mine that she'll carry for the rest of her life. It only holds fair I return the favour!"_

Before either Huntress or Black Canary could react Kaine's hand was on the Jokers face, a sizzling sound erupted from his touch and the Joker shrieked as the Scarlet Spider tore his hand away, taking the skin with it, carving a bloody hand print into his face.

_"Oh for me? Spidey you shouldn't have"_ the Joker cackled as blood ran down his face.

_"That mark will never fade and if you ever touch anyone I know ever again I swear I will hunt you down and I will kill you!"_ Kaine finished turning away.

_"Lets get out of here"_ Dinah said hurriedly pushing Kaine out of the door before he changed his mind.

* * *

><p><strong>Kord Tower 5am<strong>

After they arrived back the Scarlet Spider headed to straight to his room and Huntress followed. She had seen the wounds he'd sustained and the blood dripping down his costume. Not to mention after being controlled by Poison Ivy, taking Scarecrow's fear toxin and having to deal with the Joker's insanity she wouldn't be surprised if he needed someone to talk to.

_"Looks like everything turned out ok"_ Dinah said slumping down in a chair and turning to Barbara.

_"Yes but we still don't know who that man was in the control room. Also Batman hasn't been back in contact since he left Arkham I'm not sure if…"_

_"If the guy is tired as hell?"_ Hawk interrupted. _"We've all been through some shit tonight he's probably gone home and crashed out in his bed."_

Barbara sighed. Hank was probably right. She could check up on Bruce tomorrow morning. _"Bruce wasn't happy about what happened at Arkham. After he came round he was quieter than usual. Kaine over-reacted"_ Oracle said turning to Dinah. Black Canary's eyes moved to the ground awkardly. She didn't really know how to respond.

_"He was only trying to save you guys though"_ Zinda added. _"I agree he's not exactly orthodox but it all worked out, right? No-one died and you guys are safe."_

_"He still went completely off grid and refused to listen to me. We're a team we need to work together. Kaine needs to learn he can't just kncok out anyone or ignore who disagree's with him"_ Barbara replied. She could see Kaine's point of view but that still didn't excuse what he did. Not to mention Batman was definitely going to tear her a new one about it.

_"Well at least let him get some rest. You can have a word with him tomorrow"_ Lady Blackhawk sighed.

_"That's probably a good idea. Confronting him when he's tired and probably a little pissed off is bad idea. I'll have words with him tomorrow."_

_"Where the hell were Cass and Steph earlier anyway?" _Dove suddenly piped up changing the subject.

_"Bruce left them at the manor to respond to any instances of inmates getting away from Arkham and into the city"_ Oracle explained closing her laptop.

_"They would have been more useful at the Asylum"_ Ravager muttered before turning away. _"I'm going to go get some sleep."_

_"I think we'll follow suit. Things should be clearer after some rest" _Oracle agreed as she began to follow the other Birds out of the lounge.

* * *

><p>Huntress pushed Kaine's bedroom door open and it squeaked in protest as she did. The noise caused Kaine's head to snap up. He'd just pulled his crimson suit over his chest to check his wounds.<p>

_"How you feeling?"_ she asked entering the room and sitting down on the bed next to him being careful to push aside the mask that lay there should she accidently break the glass eyepieces.

_"How am I? I'm not the one who got captured by a psychopath"_ Kaine replied quickly pulling his suit back over the wounds.

_"Let me take a look"_ Huntress said reaching out to pull the costume back up.

_"I'm fine"_ Kaine replied gently pushing her hands aside. Helena gave him a stern look as she saw the blood begin to seep through the costume again.

_"Let me see"_ she insisted, pushing his hands aside firmly and pulling the suit up over his abdomen.

_"I heal quickly just leave it be"_ Kaine muttered, again trying to swat her hands aside.

As Helena observed the wounds more closely she could tell he was right. Although they hadn't fully healed, the wounds were nowhere as deep as they must have been when they were inflicted and none of them would require stitches. Still they were ugly jagged wounds that needed cleaning.

_"I'll get some warm water we need to clean these up"_ she said getting up and walking into the ensuite bathroom.

_"I already told you I'll be fine"_ the Scarlet Spider called after her. She didn't reply but Kaine heard the tell-tale clinking noises of someone rummaging through bottles of medication. A few moments later the raven haired woman emerged with a bowl of warm water, a towel and a small bottle of what looked like anti-biotics. Kaine sighed in frustration as she sat back down next to him and began to tend to his wounds. She really was stubborn.

"Here take two of these" Helena ordered taking two pills from the bottle before handing them to Kaine who took them begrudgingly. She then pulled off her face-mask and placed it on the floor so she could work easier. Huntress was used to cleaning wounds after a life-time of tending to her own. As she began to wipe the blood away from his skin she began to realize that perhaps this hadn't been the best idea as the feeling of his skin beneath her hands began to ignite the feelings that had been distracting her of late. Helena ran a hand through her long dark her in an attempt to divert her attention but as her hand touched her forehead she could feel how flushed she was becoming which had the opposite effect.

_"There. Done"_ Huntress announced a few moments later letting out a deep breath she didn't know she'd been holding as she wiped some of Kaine's blood from her hands into the bowel of water before placing the equipment on the floor out of the way.

_"What about you?"_ Kaine asked looking at her quizzically. Huntress had been so engrossed in what she was doing and keeping herself under control that she had forgotten her injuries.

_"Don't worry they're just flesh wounds. They've already scabbed up"_ she replied smiling at his concern but at the same time she twinged involuntarily and put her hand on her abdomen as the wounds protested. They may not have been deep but they hurt like hell. Kaine noticed this and turned away.

_"Sorry I didn't get there sooner. I should have been there to stop him"_ he said quietly before getting up and turning away from her.

That was the last straw. The heat that had been steadily building in her stomach reached its crescendo as she heard the genuine emotion in his voice. Helena quickly got to her feet and closed in on him. Turning at the sound Kaine came face to face with her.

_"Are you ok?"_ he asked, surprised at her proximity to him and her heavy breathing.

Helena's eyes darkened lustfully, she smashed her lips against his forcing her tongue into his mouth and began running a hand through his short hair. For a split-second Kaine remained motionless then he began to retaliate with his own. Their kiss continued for a few minutes each one dueling for the dominant position much like the way they fought when they trained together. Suddenly Helena pushed Kaine back violently keeping her lips locked on his and felt the abrupt halt as his back hit the wall. She flushed herself against him and began pulling the purple fabric of her costume up over her chest. Kaine's hand reached out to grasp the material and pulled it up in an attempt to help Helena to free herself from the clothing. As it came free in Kaine's hand she pulled it from his grip and tossed it aside as he pushed away from the wall.

Wrapping her arms around his neck she looked at him in the eyes for a moment almost challenging him to stop her. At that moment in time the Scarlet Spider's head was spinning with the thrill and the only coherent thought he could make at that moment was that he was how beautiful she was. Kaine was convinced if Helena hadn't got into the vigilante lifestyle she could have been a model. He had yet to meet another woman who's ash black hair accentuated her features so perfectly, rendering her oval face and deep-set aquamarine eyes so captivating. Her body although muscular due to all the training and fighting had lost none of its curvaceous femininity.

Helena could almost see Kaine's eyes drinking her in and blushed before leaping onto him locking her legs around his waist to support herself. Kaine quickly caught her as she latched on to him and ran his hand up her back. Huntress moaned involuntarily as a foreign tingling sensation crept up her. She guessed this must be Kaine's ability to stick to walls having an effect on her skin.

_"I…see…you…have…other…ways…of….using…that"_ she breathed between kisses. Helena felt his lips curl into a smile beneath hers. Truth be told Kaine hadn't done this intentionally. He'd been lost in the moment and it just happened on reflex. Huntress arched her back pushing even closer to him. Reveling in the warmth of his body against her's. Kaine fell back onto the bed and she followed still not breaking the kiss. By now both of them had completely forgotten their injuries.

_"Perhaps this isn't such a good idea. This is just the after effects from adrenaline. I'm no good for you"_ Kaine gasped breaking the kiss, trying to convince himself more than her that she couldn't want this or him as coherency threatened to take over and Helena could tell this was the case by the way his words were spoken without conviction. Ignoring his protest she tore off the top half of his costume.

"_I think I'm old enough to know what is and isn't good for me. Now shut up and kiss me"_ she breathed before collapsing onto him.

The feeling of Helena's skin pressed against his caused the coherency and logical thought that had previously been attempting to take over Kaine's mind to crumble instantly and he quickly wrapped both his arms around her waist pulling her in as close as he could before slamming his lips furiously into hers. Helena moaned in pleasure against his lips as she realized he was reciprocating. Using his inhuman speed he quickly changed position putting himself on top of her. Running one of his hands through her long black hair as he did. Pulling the bedcover from beneath them Helena proceeded to throw it over them both as she began to shed the bottom half of her costume. A webline shot from the Scarlet Spider's hand hitting the light switch and coating the room in darkness.

The next hour and a half seemed like a blur to Kaine. He remembered bits and pieces. The things she murmured in Italian (although he couldn't understand what she was saying he had a pretty good idea what it was from her tone), her hot breath in his ear, the warmth of her body pressed against his, the feeling of her fingernails raking his back and the sounds of her moaning into his mouth as they neared the end of their encounter. The Scarlet Spider lay back breathless and Huntress collapsed on top of him resting her head in the nook of his neck before melting into him.

_"This is going to complicate things"_ Kaine thought as he pushed a lock of black hair behind Helena's ear.

* * *

><p><strong>Note: <strong>As you may have noticed was an extra long chapter as there's quite a large possibility i'm going to be very busy next week (possibly the week after as well) and won't be able to get any writing done so I thought I may as well throw out a long one!


	20. Morning After

**Kord Tower**

Helena's eyes fluttered opened as sunlight streamed onto her face. As she moved her hand to wipe her eyes she became aware of the other body beneath her. Kaine was still sleeping and she used her arms to prop herself up to watch him as he slept. "What happened last night?" she thought the daze of just waking up still upon her mind.

The night before came flooding back to her as her hand brushed against his chest feeling it rise and fall under her as he breathed. The heat, his hands exploring her, the taste of his lips on hers and the feeling of his skin moving against her. Helena felt she should be angry with herself. Being a Catholic, sex outside marriage wasn't exactly encouraged but then again she'd killed people and Helena was pretty sure god would frown more upon taking a life than fun outside marriage. In fact she felt quite relaxed and contented as if some huge weight had been lifted. She had never been good at playing the good girl anyhow.

Helena brought her hand up to stroke the stubble that lined his chin and realized her hand was trembling. The effect this man had on her terrified Helena. No man had ever made her tremble for no reason or make her mind go blank simply by looking at her. Kaine's eyes snapped open as her hand brushed against his cheek and he found himself staring into Helena's ocean blue eyes. They both stared at each other for a few seconds unsure of how to proceed.

_"Well ermmm last night was…"_ Kaine began.

_"Yeah it was"_ Helena began awkwardly. _"I don't think we should make a big deal out of this"_ she continued, mentally slapping herself as she did. She didn't want this to be a one-night stand so why the hell was she saying it?

_"I guess you're right"_ Kaine replied, he couldn't explain why but he was disappointed.

"C'mon he's hesitating. You don't want this to be a one-time thing and it doesn't look like he does either so c'mon Helena! Stop being so god damn prideful and say something!" Helena scolded herself. Kaine watched her curiously, she was obviously deliberating something. "God damn it! Just kiss him!" Helena thought as she began leaning in. Suddenly the door burst open.

_"Kaine have you seen Huntress? She's normally up at like 6am and what the hell was all that racket last n…."_ Dove stopped dead, shocked into silence at seeing Helena and Kaine in the bed together. Huntress's head span round and her eye's flashed with anger at being interrupted.

_"Don't you know how to fucking knock?"_ Helena snapped.

_"Oh I'm sorry…I didn't….erm…Did you guys?"_ Dawn began sheepishly, quickly averting her eyes upon realizing that neither of them were wearing any clothes.

_"GET OUT!"_ Huntress shouted and Dove hastily retreated out the door.

_"Well I guess it was only a matter of time"_ Dawn muttered smiling as she shut the door behind her.

_"What are the chances she'll forget what she just saw?"_ Kaine asked looking at the door.

_"Not very high"_ Helena replied turning back to Kaine. "Ok take a deep breath and tell him" she thought nervously. _"Look Kaine I.."_ As his eyes locked with hers they worked their familiar magic on her, making speech somewhat difficult. _"I didn't mean what I said just now. I don't want this to be a one-time thing. I know I'm not the easiest person to get along with and I tend to be a bit impulsive not to mention I sometimes I have a habit of.."_

Helena was cut off as Kaine wrapped an arm around her neck pulling her in and pressing his lips against her's silencing her rant. Huntress closed her eyes and sank into him.

_"This is going to cause problems isn't it?"_ she sighed as Kaine broke the kiss.

_"Now it's my turn to tell you to shut up"_ Kaine replied playfully kissing her neck.

_"We're going to need to talk about this"_ Huntress continued trying her best to get a meaningful conversation out of him but Kaine wasn't making things easy as he continued the small trail of kisses up her neck.

_"We'll talk later. I'm going to take a shower"_ he said suddenly sliding out from beneath her and heading towards the ensuite bathroom.

Helena propped herself up and watched him as he opened the door. The absence of his warmth causing her body to protest. As they were no longer in the awkward zone she could actually take a look at him without feeling embarrassed. Whatever had given Kaine his abilities had sculpted his body to perfection it was inhuman how every muscle looked as if it had been carved from stone. She'd remembered marvelling at it last night as she ran her hand over the ridges in his chest.

Kaine closed the door behind him, stepped into the shower and turned the tap letting the hot water trickled down him. He'd hoped the water would help to clear his head. Kaine had been in love before but these feelings weren't the same as the feelings he'd had for Louise. The feelings he was having for the dark haired heroine were far more potent. Heck he could still feel her hands on his skin as if she was there right now. It was as he turned round he realized he wasn't imagining Helena's touch. She was standing in front of him, water trickling down her long dark hair and beautiful face.

_"As everyone is going to know about what happened between us when we leave this room we may as well have some fun"_ she smiled trapping him against the tiled wall with her body and kissing him deeply as the water ran down them both.

* * *

><p><strong>Secret Six Hideout Gotham<strong>

_"What have you got for me?"_ the man in the in the black balaclava demanded as Deathstroke approached him.

_"After watching him in the Asylum I can say with a fair amount of certainty that the subject has quite a high degree of superhuman strength, speed and agility as well as a high resistance to toxins. He filtered out Ivy's poisons without too much trouble"_ the assassin replied. The cloaked man had returned to the Secret Six's base the day after the events of Arkham Asylum for an update.

_"Any noticeable weakness's?"_

_"None that I can see. He seems to only be slightly above human in durability so a bullet would probably do the trick but no he doesn't have a kryptonite as such"_ Deathstroke replied folding his arms across his chest. The man's voice still plagued Slade and those eyes. Those white almost dead eyes perplexed him even more.

_"What about his identity? Known whereabouts?"_ the masked man replied obviously unimpressed with Deathstroke's findings.

_"The man's a ghost. I can't find anything on him anywhere. No-one with a similar powerset. No name. No other allias."_ This had shaken Slade slightly. Everyone had a past. Everyone. But this Scarlet Spider? Nothing. It was like one day he had just appeared out of thin air. _"He also seems to be working closely with the Birds Of Prey. We've noticed a pattern between his and their movements."_

_"This is all you have?"_ the man asked visibly annoyed.

_"There is nothing else"_ Deathstroke replied slightly irritatedly.

_"Then I have no more use for you"_ the man said snapping his fingers. As he did figures lept from the shadows grabbing the surprised Secret Six.

_"Get off"_ Catman growled trying to throw one the black clad men off him but the masked man held firm.

Slade on the other hand had already started moving as he realized they had been double crossed and quickly spun driving his sword into the black clad man who appeared behind him before turning to engage the man in front of him.

_"You're a dead man"_ Deathstroke growled swiping at the man with his sword. He watched the man's mouth curve into a smile beneath his mask before the katana flashed from beneath his trench coat and stopped Slade's weapon before it could do any damage.

_"Stop"_ the man in the balaclava shouted to his men as they began to close in on Slade. _"He's mine!"_

_"Awful cocky for a dead guy aren't you?" _Deathstroke snarled as he applied pressure to his blade pushing the man back a few footsteps. The man seemed to find something amusing in Slade's words as he began to chuckle. The noises slightly muffled by his mask.

_"Oh you have no idea!"_ he said after he'd finished his bout of laughter.

With that he shifted his weight onto his back foot and swapped sword hands so he could push up with his free one and aim a punch to Deathstroke's face. Slade ducked as the fist swung towards him and countered by spinning away and kicking also freeing his sword in the process. The rest of the Secret Six had been subdued by the combination of the surprise attack and the amount of men could only watch helplessly as Deathstroke fought the man who seemed to be their leader. The pair flashed backwards and forwards blades dancing in their hands.

_"Your good I'll give you that"_ Deathstroke replied as they both broke away panting. The man had gotten through his defences a few times and his arm was bleeding. He had also tagged his opponent a few times but contrary to him the man didn't even seem to notice his wounds in fact the closer Slade looked he could sware the man wasn't even bleeding. _"But as good as you are I've taken on better. Heck I even beat Batman!"_

The man chuckled beneath his mask again. _"You're not the only one!"_

* * *

><p><strong>Kord Tower<strong>

_"What do we know about the guy who attacked you in Arkham?"_ Oracle asked turning to Hawk and Dove who's eyes flashed with annoyance at the memory of the man.

_"Well he was quick and silent. Damn silent. We couldn't tag him. It was like fighting a shadow"_ Hank replied frustration evident in his voice as he lent against a wall.

_"I'll let Bruce know about it. Maybe he'll know something"_ Oracle replied turning to her laptop screen.

_"Did you find Helena by the way?"_ Zinda asked changing the subject and turning her attention to Dove.

_"Oh I err…"_ Dawn began trying to think up something to say. It wasn't really up to her to tell them about Helena and Kaine. _"She was busy"_ she finished meekly.

_"Training Kaine again?"_ Zinda asked curious at how cagey Dove was being.

_"Something like that yeah"_ Dove muttered awkwardly. Before Zinda could press the matter she noticed Dawn was now staring past her towards the window. _"It looks like we have a visitor"_ Dove commented in surprise.

The rest of the Birds turned to see a tall blonde haired woman wearing a white suit and red cape hovering behind the glass.

_"Skylight"_ Dinah explained to the new arrival and pointing to the roof. The blonde woman nodded and quickly flew into the room. _"Kara it's been a while. How have you been?"_ Dinah asked waking over and giving Power Girl a hug.

_"Oh you know. Same old"_ the heroine replied beaming.

_"To what do we owe the pleasure?"_ Oracle asked smiling at her.

_"The Justice League has some business on another world. Just some peace keeping thing. No biggy but I just thought I'd let you know in case you wondered where we'd disappeared to"_ Power Girl explained shrugging. _"I'm mainly here to see Helena. We haven't had time to catch up lately and I was hoping we could get some girl bonding in before I'm whisked off to whatever planet it is we're visiting this time."_

_"Helena should be in her room"_ Zinda replied pointing to the door, not noticing Dove shift awkwardly as she did.

_"I'll go find her then. Nice to see you all again"_ Power Girl added as she left the room.

As Kara entered the corridor and shut the door a man emerged from a room to her left wearing nothing but a pair of jeans. Kaine stopped dead as he saw Power Girl. In hindsight he should have realized that if this woman was in here it was because she had been invited in. Kord's security was too good for someone to simple stroll in but the surprise at seeing her clouded his judgement and he lept at her. Kara too was too surprised by the man's appearance to react properly and Kaine's punch hit her squarely in the jaw.

_"Ouch. Fuck"_ Kaine cursed, quickly retracting his throbbing hand. The woman was like a lump of adimantium. The Scarlet Spider didn't relent however and kicked her in the stomach but the woman didn't even seem to notice it. In fact Kara was too busy looking him over curiously to even bother with the blows. As Kaine struck her again in the face she decided enough was enough and quickly placed her hand flat on his chest and slammed him into the wall to her left causing it to crack as she did. "Damn she's strong" Kaine thought as he felt the immense pressure pinning him to the wall.

_"Please stop. If you keep going I'd have to hit that handsome face of yours"_ Power Girl stated smiling. _"and that would be a shame."_

Suddenly Helena stepped into the corridor attracted by the noise a towel wrapped around her.

_"Kara"_ she exclaimed in surprise at seeing her friend. Kara had noticed that Helena had emerged from the same room as the topless man she currently had pinned against the wall. She didn't need to be a rocket scientist to put two and two together.

_"Hey Hel"_ she replied raising an eyebrow knowingly causing Helena to blush while relinquishing her grip on Kaine who fell to the floor coughing.

_"I-I see you've met Kaine"_ Helena stammered her blush deepening.

_"Well we haven't been formerly introduced"_ Kara replied smiling at her friends reaction as the Kaine got back to his feet.

_"I'm Karen Starr but everyone calls me Kara"_ she explained cheerfully and extended her hand towards the Scarlet Spider.

_"Kaine Parker"_ Kaine replied taking a few deep breaths before shaking it. _"You hit like a frigging freight train lady. Remind me never to pick a fight with you again"_ the Scarlet Spider muttered as he retrieved his hand.

_"So ermm what do you need Kara?"_ Helena asked pushing some wet hair from her eyes.

_"I was just hoping we could go out for some girl time before I leave today"_ Power Girl began. _"but if you're too busy. We can make it another time"_ she made sure to enunciate the word "busy".

_"I-I..no. I'll go put some clothes on and we'll go"_ Helena replied flustered before retreating back into the room. Kara couldn't help but chuckle at her friend's demeanour.

"I see you're still as good at controlling your emotions as ever Hel" she thought in amusement as the door shut.

* * *

><p><strong>Note: <strong>Well i'm back. I would just like to say a huge thanks to everyone who is consistently reviewing this (its keeping me motivated to keep going) so thanks! I'm playing to start the next part of the Infection in the next two weeks but it should not have any effect on me updating this story. I'll just answer a few questions that where sent to me here:

**1. Will Catwoman be appearing? **

She may make a brief appearance yes.

**2. Will Power Girl be appearing as Helena and she are friends? **

I think this chapter answers that question.

**3. Would you consider bringing Spider-man into this story? **

As I said prior to this question I don't want to introduce any other Marvel characters to this story. Having said that I do like the idea of a Spider-man X Black Canary pairing so maybe in another story after this one (or possible sequel?) but for the time being no. He will not be making an appearance.


	21. Death Sentence

**Gotham**

Helena and Kara sat down at the café and ordered some drinks. After Kara had changed out of her costume and into her civvies they'd spent the day walking round the shops looking at clothes or whatever else happened to tickle their fancy. Neither of them were what you would call avid shoppers but the combination of company and spare money had caused them to go a lot longer than usual. Throughout the entire day Helena had noticed Karen hadn't brought up the subject of Kaine once even when she'd bought a floor length red dress that could have only been bought with one person in mind. Although it was evident Kara was dying of curiosity.

_"Ok Kara ask me before you burst"_ Helena sighed.

_"So you and the other guy huh?"_ Kara blurted out almost instantly.

_"Its complicated"_ Huntress replied running a hand through her hair.

_"When isn't it?"_ the blond heroine chuckled smiling at her friend. _"Do you like him?"_

_"Yeah. A lot"_ Helena responded instinctively and was surprised at how easy the words rolled off her tongue. _"I mean he's a little rough around the edges and his past isn't great but he's loyal, brave and as much as he tries to deny it selfless."_

_"Not to mention good looking"_ Kara said smiling causing Helena to blush slightly and reach for her drink. _"And I bet that flexibility of his comes in handy as well"_ Power Girl finished, winking at her friend causing Helena to choke on her drink. _"So what does he do?"_

_"Same thing as us"_ Helena replied clearing her throat.

_"Thought so. He hits harder than a normal human"_ Power Girl remarked._ "What's his story?"_

_"I'll be honest I don't know an awful lot about his past. All I know is that he's an orphan who never knew his parents. He didn't have a great childhood from what I can work out. He didn't even have a name."_

_"Ouch"_ Kara commented as she took a sip of her drink. She was well aware of what it was like to lose a family.

_"Anything after that he tends to get a little cagey over. All he's told me is that he was mentally unstable and killed a few people until some guy snapped him out of it"_ Helena admitted. Kara raised an eyebrow at that.

_"How is he now?"_

_"He's fine just a little…short tempered"_ Helena assured her.

_"Just be careful ok? People with a violent past especially one with mental instability have quite a lot of trouble changing."_

_"What are you trying to say?"_ Helena snapped defensively. _"I'm no saint either."_

_"Whoa, whoa I wasn't trying to warn you away or anything. I just don't want you to get hurt"_ Power Girl replied surprised at Helena's change in tone.

Huntress sighed. She knew Kara was just trying to be a friend but she didn't like the way people kept judging Kaine before they actually got to know him. It reminded her of how everyone had reacted to her before they actually took the time to find out why she was like she was. Fortunately Barbara had stuck up for just as she was sticking up for Kaine.

_"So what's the deal with this Scarlet Spider guy that's been all over the news?"_ Power Girl began attempting to change the subject, not realizing that she had failed spectacularly. _"He seems to be doing a pretty good job around here. Diana and I were talking about him earlier. Frankly I'm surprised Batman hasn't had one of his famous chats with him"_ Kara finished using her fingers as quotation marks on the word "chats".

_"That's Kaine"_ Helena informed her as she watched people flit through the busy street.

_"Huh?"_

_"Kaine is the Scarlet Spider"_ Helena explained turning back to the blonde.

"Oh I see. _That suit doesn't leave much to the imagination. Lucky girl"_ Kara replied smiling causing Helena to become flustered again.

Kara wasn't being crude she just liked to tease her friend and watch her squirm at her games. Helena knew what she was doing but somehow Kara always found a way of getting under her skin.

_"So you mentioned earlier you and the League are off somewhere?"_ Huntress began, quickly changing the subject.

_"Oh yeah. Its nothing to worry about just some small thing to keep the peace on some planet. We'll probably be back before you know it. Not that you have a hell of a lot of contact with us anyway"_ Power Girl replied finishing her drink._ "By the way have you seen Batman recently? We wanted to get into contact with him to inform him what we're doing but we haven't been able to."_

_"Yeah he was with us at Arkham Yesterday evening"_ Helena replied thoughtfully. _"When did you try to contact him?"_

_"Actually it was last night"_ Kara replied slightly sheepishly.

_"Well that's probably why you got no reply."_

_"We also tried again earlier before I left but still no luck."_

_"He's probably still sleeping. He took quite beating during the breakout"_ Helena replied although this was strange. It was well known that Batman was a 'go until you drop' kind of guy and it didn't explain why either Cass, Steph or Alfred hadn't been there to respond.

_"Well can you give him the message. We're off in like a few hours. That's just enough time to check out the new store down on 5th"_ Kara said getting to her feet and dragging Helena with her.

* * *

><p><strong>Gotham that evening<strong>

_"Stat report."_

Two men dressed head to toe in black stood in an alley eyes darting around to make sure they weren't being watched.

"_Wayne and his bats have been taken care of. The Titans have also been apprehended"_ the other replied.

_"And outsider?"_

_"Who? Red Hood?"_

_"Yes" _the first man replied impatiently.

_"I sent someone to take care of that situation but have had no confirmation yet."_

_"Our next move is on the sister and her team. An assault team is being prepared as we speak."_

_"We are close now brother. Soon we will have this city."_

_"Hate to be the bearer of bad news but I don't think that's gonna happen!"_

The two men quickly drew katana's at the sound of the voice. Bullets ripped through the alley and into the two men who took the barrage directly in their chests.

_"Outsider"_ one of them hissed as Red Hood emerged from the shadows at the other end of the alley.

_"Yep. Your friend didn't do such a good job of taking me out"_ Jason replied smirking as he stood over the two men. _"Night night now"_ he finished as he quickly put a bullet into each man's head. _"So the sister is next? Who the hell is…Awww crap Babs don't die before I get there"_ Jason muttered as he ran out of the alley and threw himself onto his motorbike.

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile at Kord<strong>

It was late when Helena arrived back from her trip round town. Kara had left earlier but she had felt like the walk so she'd stayed out a bit longer. As she entered the lounge her eyes instantly locked onto Kaine who also turned at her appearance.

_"How'd things go with Kara?"_ Hank asked more out of courtesy that actual interest.

_"Yeah it went fine. Kaine can I talk to you a sec?"_ Huntress replied looking the Scarlet Spider in the eyes. Kaine got to his feet and as he left the room Huntress shut the door behind them.

_"Whats uphh"_ he was cut off as Helena pressed her lips against his.

_"I've been waiting all day to do that"_ she said breathlessly as they broke the kiss.

_"Why don't we just tell the others? Dove already knows anyway."_

_"We will lets just let everyone calm down after the whole Arkham thing. I know Oracle is still worried about Batman"_ Helena replied as she pushed the door back open. She then proceeded to walk over to Barbara who was at her eternal position infront of the laptop. Kaine decided to sit on the couch and see what was on the tv.

_"What happened to you?"_ Zinda asked raising an eyebrow as Kaine sat down next to her. As he sat down his t-shirt rode up his back slightly and Blackhawk noticed the scratch marks covering his skin.

_"Huh? What do you mean?"_ Kaine asked turning to her confused.

_"Those marks"_ she replied pointing at them. Helena's eyes snapped up and her face turned red as she realized the marks Zinda was referring to were the scratch marks left by her fingernails when she had gotten a little 'aggressive' during her and Kaine's night together.

_"I..err..allergies I guess"_ Kaine began not really sure what to say.

Dove who wasn't far away was currently covering her mouth preventing the laughter escaping having seen Huntress's face. Blackhawk looked at her confused. As she turned back to look at Kaine she caught a quick look at Helena's embarrassed face and suddenly she understood, like a light switch being flipped on.

_"Wait! You and…."_ Before she could continue Huntress quickly ran over, grabbed her and shuffled her out of the room and into the kitchen before she could say anything else. _"You and Kaine? When did this start?"_ Zinda asked eyes wide in surprise.

_"It was last night after the whole Arkham deal"_ Helena replied desperately trying to shush the blond haired woman.

_"How come you didn't tell us? I wanna know everything! Details!"_

This was one of the reasons Huntress had tried to avoid bringing this up so soon she wasn't sure she could deal with all the questions right now. Especially not from Zinda who was like a bag of puppies when she got interested in something.

_"I don't know the details myself yet. At least give me a few days to sort this out. Then we'll have a girl talk"_ Helena replied exasperatedly. Noticing the slightly distressed demeanour Helena currently had Blackhawk relented and bit back more questions.

_"Ok fine but after you've got this sorted me and you need to talk."_

_"Thank you"_ Helena replied breathing a sigh of relief as she opened the kitchen door.

_"Wait last night? Is that what the noise was in Kaine's room? I thought he was just training or something. Wait a sec some of those noises sounded like they were coming from the ceiling did you two…"_

_"No we didn't!"_ Helena replied interrupting her face growing redder as she pushed Blackhawk out of the kitchen.

_"Oh my god you did didn't you?"_ Zinda gasped wide eyed.

_"Shut up"_ Helena snapped back as she quickly put as much distance between her and Blackhawk as possible.

* * *

><p><strong>Kord Tower later that night<strong>

Kaine lay in the bed feeling the rise and fall of Helena's chest as she slept next to him. He wasn't sure where things were going and the fear of the unknown was the worst kind of fear. He lay there for a few more minutes before resigning himself to the fact that he wasn't going to sleep anytime soon. Carefully prying his arm from beneath Huntress being careful not to wake her as he did Kaine slipped out of the bed. He shivered involuntarily as the cool night air crept across his skin before quickly pulling on a pair of jeans that lay strewn on the floor.

As he opened the door it creaked loudly and he froze fearing that he may have woken Helena but she didn't move. Satisfied she was still sleeping he left the room and closed the door slowly making sure not to make the same mistake as last time. A light flickered beneath the door in the middle of the corridor that led into the lounge.

_"Must be Oracle"_ he muttered as he moved towards it. She was the only person who hadn't gone to bed when the rest of them had. She was still worried about the Bat-guy or Bruce as she called him. Kaine wondered if the man under mask was all too happy about her using his real in front of him.

As he pushed the door open he saw he was right. Oracle was at her laptop obviously still trying to contact him. "If she still hasn't got hold of him by tomorrow I guess I should check it out. It's the least I can do considering what she's done for me" he thought to himself as he began to make his way towards the kitchen.

Suddenly a tingling sensation traveling through his head caused him to freeze. Spider-sense? Now? Here? His eyes flashed round scanning the darkness until he caught a glimpse of movement and watched in shock as a pair of black suited figures crept out of the shadows and made their way towards Barbara. So intent were they on their target that they hadn't noticed Kaine's appearance.

To Kaine it seemed as if everything moved in slow motion as he watched the dark figure approach Oracle from behind. He knew there and then that it was the unknown or Barbara. For Kaine this choice was a no-brainer. He shot forward driving himself into the figure and propelling the man from his feet with such force he smashed straight through one of the large bullet proof windows. The Scarlet Spider knew whoever it was would be dead. No-one was going to survive a fall from the top of Kord.

_"Kaine what…"_ Oracle began in shock as Kaine quickly kicked her wheelchair sending it speeding away as the second assailant attempted to swing his katana in her direction. Kaine ducked beneath the blade as the man switched targets from Barbara to him.

The Scarlet Spider tore the sword from the man's hand, tossed it aside and seized him by the neck. To his surprise the man didn't even seem to care that Kaine was currently cutting off his airway, he produced a knife from his belt and swiped at Kaine's face. The Scarlet Spider threw his head back and saw the shining blade flash in front of his eyes. He quickly composed himself and disarmed the man before pinning him to the ground. He then proceeded to beat the man, raining down blow after punishing blow until he finally stopped moving. It was then Kaine managed to get a good look at the man.

He was dressed in a black material and was wearing a black balaclava and a weird set of small eyepieces like the ones on his own suit but smaller not to mention these ones were yellow rather than red. A scream emitted and another two men crashed into the room followed by Black Canary who had used her cry to knock them out.

_"What the hell was that?"_ Kaine demanded his ears ringing.

_"A little talent of mine I use on special occasions"_ Dinah replied shrugging.

_"Stay here!"_ Kaine commanded turning to Oracle who was still in a state of shock at what had just happened. _"Dinah you take the left side I'll take the right"_ he said, unconsciously picking the side his and Helena's room was situated on. Dinah nodded before leaving the room and turning left. Kaine sped down the corridor.

"Who the hell are these guys?" he thought as he kicked the door to his and Helena's room down. He froze as he saw one of the masked men holding Huntress in a wrist lock with a knife to her neck. Kaine straightened up fixing the man with a deathly glare.

_"We have no quarrel with you"_ the man began in an unnaturally grating voice. _"Leave and you won't get hurt."_

_"I saw a film not long ago were the main character backed down against the bad guy because he was trying not to kill anymore"_ Kaine began coldly as he began moving towards them.

_"Stop!"_ the masked man snarled pressing the knife against Huntress's neck a little harder and drawing a small drop of blood in the process.

_"And do you know what happened? The bad guy ended up killing people simply because the good guy thought that killing garbage like you wasn't the answer but you know what? That's bullshit!"_ as Kaine finished his sentence a web-line snapped from his wrist tagging the man by the face and in a split second Kaine jerked his wrist full force and heard the cracking sound as the man's neck snapped.

The assailant fell to the floor his neck hanging at a sickening angle. Helena stood frozen as she felt the man fall to the ground behind her. Kaine quickly moved to her side and pulled her away not letting her see the body. Helena couldn't help but smile. She'd seen many dead bodies in her time hell she'd made a few of them but Kaine still tried to shield her from seeing another. Just then the rest of the Birds regrouped at their room panting, obviously having beaten their own opponents.

_"Who the hell are these guys?"_ Kaine asked pointing at the dead man.

_"No idea"_ Hank replied breathlessly clutching his bloody arm that must have been injured in his fight.

_"They were damn fast"_ Rose commented clutching her sword and attempting to wipe some blood from her pyjama's.

_"You didn't need to kill him!"_ Dinah said reproachfully looking at the sicken angle of the man's head.

_"Don't give me shit about this now. He had a knife at Helena's neck"_ Kaine snapped.

_"I've got to get in contact with Bruce they knew how to get in here and we need to.."_ Oracle was cut off as they all heard a snapping sound.

_"Oh it'll take more than that to kill me."_

Kaine turned back to the dead man and watched in horror as he got back to his feet his neck still swinging sickeningly.

_"Well that hurt"_ the man muttered bringing his hands up and pushing his neck straight.

_"What the fuck?"_ Kaine snarled stingers erupting from his wrists.

_"So you're the Scarlet Spider?"_ the man continued slightly smugly, obviously enjoying the reaction he was getting from the hero's. _"You've been quite a thorn in our side. Stopping Shiva, beating the Secret Six, putting Ivy back in Arkham, stopping the Arkham breakout and now saving the Birds from us? I don't think we can simply ignore your presence anymore."_

_"Who the hell are you?"_ Huntress growled looking at the man warily.

_"Oh how rude of me. It's been a long time since we've been active and I don't even think you were part of the Birds Of Prey when we encountered them"_ the man replied pulling off his mask.

Kaine's eyes widened in horror as he took in the man's gaunt features. His skin was white and tightly enclosed round his skull. If Kaine didn't know better he would have said the man was dead.

_"Oh god no"_ Oracle gasped from behind them. Even Black Canary took a step back as she recognized the tell-tale white skin and glazed eyes.

_"My name is William Cobb"_ the man continued taking another mask from his jacket and pulling it over his face. He also discarded the jacket revealing ornate armor emblazoned with a birds head.

Kaine looked at the new mask curiously. It had the same weird lenses the other man's mask had and a beak-like design on the nose.

_"and the Court of The Owls has sentenced you to death"_ he finished slipping into a combat stance and pulling a pair of knives from his belt just as another two men dressed in similar gear appeared behind Kaine and the Birds.

* * *

><p><strong>Note:<strong> Been a while since my last update (sorry about that). Thanks to everyone who is reviewing and keeping me motivated.


	22. Retreat

**Kord Tower**

_"So who exactly are these guys?"_ Kaine growled as Cobb lept at him knives in hand.

_"They're called Talons. They belong to a secretive society called the Court Of The Owls"_ Dinah shouted back as she used her sonic scream to knock her assailant aside.

_"I'm glad to see we made a lasting impression"_ Cobb smirked as his blade caught Kaine on the chest sending some blood into the air.

The Scarlet Spider hissed but ignored the pain and threw himself at the Talon driving his stinger into the man's chest but the Talon didn't even seem to feel it. Grabbing Kaine's hand Cobb pulled the stinger in deeper into his chest, bringing himself within striking distance and lunged towards Kaine's neck with the knife in his right hand. The Scarlet Spider only just avoided the blade as it swung towards him by arching his back and kicking Cobb from his stinger.

Kaine took this momentary respite to take a quick look at the situation. They were fighting a losing battle and he knew it. Whatever these things were they weren't feeling any of their attacks. This wasn't going to end well. As Kaine's head whipped back towards Cobb he saw a Talon about to jump Barbara from behind who of course in her wheelchair wouldn't have time to react.

_"Oracle behind you!"_ He was about to leap at the Talon but before he could Cobb was back on him in flurry of stabbing blades. Barbara's head snapped round but the Talon was already in mid-leap. It was too late and she knew it. Oracle raised her hands bracing herself for the stabbing pain that could only be a few seconds away.

***Bang*** The Talon was sent flying side-ways as bullet ripped through its skull.

_"Can't have you dying on me sis. The funeral would have been awkward for starters!" _

Oracles eyes flashed to the doorway. _"Jason?"_ she gasped in surprise recognizing the red helmet and leather jacket.

_"Yeah I know I'm a saint. You can thank me later red"_ he replied using his surprise appearance to grab another Talon from behind before placing his pistol against its right temple and pulling the trigger.

_"I see you're still breathing. That is...disappointing"_ Cobb muttered briefly turning his attention to the new comer.

_"What can I say? I'm nothing but a disappointment to most people"_ Jason replied shrugging before emptying a clip into another pair of Talons. The bullets entered their bodies but it didn't stop them advancing on the Red Hood. Jason quickly traded in his guns for combat knives as the two Talons landed on him.

Red Hood's arrival had given the Birds a momentary respite but his element of surprise wouldn't give them the upper hand for long.

_"We need to pull back"_ Black Canary shouted ducking beneath a blow from a Talon.

_"Tell him that"_ Hank shouted back and gesturing to Kaine who was currently completely focused on Cobb.

_"Shit"_ Dinah cursed as she recognized the predatory movements.

Both Cobb and Kaine fought in silence raining blow after blow on each other in hypnotic synchronization.

_"Give me that"_ Huntress growled grabbing one of Jason's pistols from his belt as he span in her direction to avoid getting decapitated.

_"Sure hon just be careful. We wouldn't want anything to happen to that pretty little face of yours"_ Jason muttered sarcastically as he drove his elbow into one of the Talon's faces while carving the second one's throat open with the knife in his other hand.

If there was time to throw Jason a glare she would have but Helena knew now wasn't the time so she quickly raised the weapon and emptied the magazine onto Cobb who was thrown backwards. Kaine was about to leap after him when Helena grabbed his arm.

_"We need to go"_ she said looking at him with pleading eyes.

Normally he would have stayed and finished this William guy off but Helena's eyes almost seem to force him out of his bloodlust and he nodded before quickly grabbing his suit from the bed and throwing it over his shoulder. He then snatched Barbara from her wheel chair and pulled her into his arms before diving though the doorway closely followed by the others.

_"Good to see your still among us Spider-guy. Told you I'd see you again"_ Jason commented cheerfully as he ran alongside Kaine down the corridor who was currently carrying Barbara bridal style.

_"You know you got me wrongly accused of murder right?"_ the Scarlet Spider returned sourly.

_"Who? Moi?"_ Red Hood replied in mock indignation.

_"Forget it. You saved our hide back there and I've been accused of worse than killing a rapist"_ Kaine muttered briefly turning and holding Oracle under one arm so he could web up the corridor behind them to try and buy them some time.

_"We need to get down to the garage get out of here and regroup"_ Dinah called back to them.

_"As much as I hate to admit it the blond chick's right"_ Jason muttered firing a few shots over his shoulder. _"We need the element of surprise and better weapons. Besides it seems your girlfriend and a few others aren't exactly dressed for the occasion"_ he continued eyeing Huntress and a few of the others who of course had been in bed before so were either dressed in pyjama's or underwear. _"Not that I'm complaining"_ he added chuckling causing some glares to be thrown is his direction.

_"Where the hell do we go? If the Talons are here they've most likely attacked all the other safehouses in town"_ Ravager asked as they ran down the stairs.

A Talon appeared in front of them but was quickly dealt with by Red Hood who put a bullet through the assassin's head before it could begin its attack.

_"I've got a place"_ Jason replied jumping over the motionless body of the Talon.

_"Why should we trust you?"_ Dinah asked a slight note of venom in her voice.

_"Because blondie we're all in the same boat. The Owls want me dead as much as they want you dead I'd say working together would be mutually beneficial. Besides I'm not such a bad guy. I just lean towards capital punishment rather than a slap on the wrist"_ Jason replied as they burst into the garage. _"Well what's it going to be?"_ Red Hood asked turning to the group.

Barbara looked at her 'brother'. Even after all the things he'd done she knew deep down that he wasn't a bad person.

_"Fine but if this a double cross I swear I'll kick your ass"_ Oracle replied threateningly.

_"That's a very poor choice of words given the current state of your legs"_ Red Hood quipped as he made his way over to the garage door. _"My bike is outside"_ Jason announced as he prepared to open the large garage door.

_"Just take one of ours"_ Barbara muttered as Kaine placed her behind Dinah on one of the motorbikes.

_"You gotta be freaking joking? That bike cost me a fortune. Well actually it cost some drug lord a fortune but you get the idea"_ Todd replied grabbing the handle. _"Hey Spider-guy get yourself over here and hold the door up a crack so I can check if the coast is clear."_

Kaine quickly made his way over to the door, grabbed the handle and lifted it up just enough that Jason who was now on one knee could peek out the bottom. He was barely down there 5 seconds when the blade of a katana flashed from beneath causing Jason to jump away in alarm and Kaine to let the drop down door fall.

_"I'm guessing the coast isn't clear then?"_ Kaine asked looking at Red Hood who was currently getting back to his feet.

_"Nope."_

_"How many are there?"_

_"Lots" _Jason muttered grimly.

_"Ok heres what we do. If they're going to get out of here safely we'll need to distract those undead bird lovers"_ Kaine began as he grabbed the handle again.

_"So what's the distraction plan?"_ Red Hood replied as he slid a pair of new magazines into his pistols.

_"Best defence is a good offense"_ the Scarlet Spider answered as he grabbed the door, his fingers tearing into the metal.

_"Couldn't agree more"_ Jason concurred smiling beneath his mask.

_"On my signal you guys get out of here"_ Kaine shouted to over his shoulder to the Birds who had all got on their bikes.

Suddenly Kaine pushed forward ripping the large steel door from its hinges and driving it into the Talons waiting on the other side before leaping out to engage the ones he'd missed. Jason followed bullets flashing from the muzzles of his weapons.

_"GO"_ Kaine roared over his shoulder as the path was momentarily cleared and was answered by the sound of revving motors followed by the bikes speeding from the garage. Jason quickly ran over to his bike and fired up the engine.

_"What about you?"_ Helena asked stopping in front of Kaine.

_"I.."_ he began but was cut off by his spider-sense. Turning he quickly shot a webline and caught a shuriken before it could hit Dinah's bike. _"I'll be fine. You guys go! You won't get far if these things are attacking your bikes"_ Kaine replied and noted the worried expression on Huntress's face. _"Don't argue just go"_ he insisted as Helena opened her mouth to protest. _"Don't worry about me. Do you really think these guys can touch me after I bust out the spider moves? Here hold onto this. You know I'll come back for it"_ he replied trying to lighten the situation as he handed her his suit. It seemed to work as Helena revved the engine and left even if it was begrudgingly.

Turning back to the Talons Kaine saw that they had pushed the large steel door off themselves and were now back on their feet. "I just need to distract them long enough to put some distance between them and the Birds" he thought slipping into a combat stance as stingers extended from his wrists.

Suddenly they all lept at him. Using his superior speed he was able to dodge most of the attacks and counter with his own but he still hissed in pain as a stray blade slashed him across the right thigh. Throwing two of them aside he quickly jumped back as a katana stuck the ground where he had been standing. He hardly had time to land before he was forced to leap into the air again to avoid a volley throwing stars. As he span through the air he felt the rushes of air across his bare chest as the shurikens passed dangerously close to hitting him.

_"Not bad but I'm sure you can do better than that. Impress me!"_

Cobb's voice coupled with his spider-sense caused Kaine to leap to the right as the Talon's knives cut through the air where he had been standing. The Talons quickly surrounded him.

_"Nowhere to run little spider"_ Cobb growled pushing past his fellow Talons so he could face Kaine head on.

"They should be far enough away by now" Kaine thought as he surveyed the situation he currently found himself in. He was surrounded. If they all leapt at him now even he wouldn't be able to avoid them. He'd must have bought the Birds enough time by now. It had to be enough! He wasn't prepared to die here.

_"You want to be impressed bird man? Then try and keep up"_ the Scarlet Spider snarled as he lept into the air and shot a webline from his wrist.

The Talons bellow lept after him but none of them where quick enough to grab him save for Cobb. The Scarlet Spider lashed out with his foot towards Cobb who's left hand was currently clutching his leg his fingers raking against his jeans. The assassin grunted as Kaine's foor made contact with his chest but he didn't let go. Instead the Talon shifted his weight throwing himself upwards and driving his own foot into Kaine's jaw. The blow caused the Scarlet Spider to falter mid-swing and crash into the top of a nearby building.

They were both on their feet almost instantly. Kaine's spider-sense went off again as Cobb's blades flashed uncomfortably close to his arm. Bringing both arms up he blocked both the Talons arms before head-butting him in the jaw as the assassin attempted to cut Kaine's throat with a cross-like motion. Cobb barely had time to recover before Kaine's foot drove into his stomach propelling him from his feet and causing him to fly off the roof into a ten story fall.

Not waiting to see what happened Kaine leapt into the air and began swinging at break-neck speed to catch up with his team-mates.

William Cobb's body hit the concrete floor with a sickening crack. Gingerly the Talon got back to his feet both arms hanging at an unnatural angle and a bone protruded out of the flesh of his lower left leg.

_"Broken bones on someone who can regenerate?"_ the Talon hissed to himself as his body healed the injuries. _"I said impress me!"_


	23. Retaliation

**Gotham City**

_"Think our Spider-pal is going to catch up anytime soon?"_ Jason shouted as he sped alongside Hawk. The road was quite wet and every now and then the group felt the wheels of their bikes skid beneath them.

_"The guy is notoriously hard to get rid of I'm sure he'll catch up"_ Hawk replied confidently.

"He damn well better" Helena thought as they sped through the calm streets. Although Gotham was generally a busy place it wasn't at 2am in the morning. No sooner had she thought about Kaine she felt the bike shudder as a weight landed on the bike seat behind her and pair of arms proceeded to lock around her waist.

_"Told you I'd come back for my suit!"_ Kaine spoke in her ear his warm breath causing her to shiver involuntarily.

_"Hey, hey you made it!"_ Red Hood shouted over his shoulder as he noticed the Scarlet Spider's reappearance. _"We're not far now. Turn down the next alley." _The Birds did as Red Hood commanded.

_"Your hide out is a dead end?"_ Ravager asked as a large wall materialized in front of them.

_"Of course not. For the daughter of Deathstroke you're not exactly the sharpest tool in the box"_ Jason replied curtly causing Rose to glare at him. They stored their bikes in the alley and Jason threw a tarpaulin over them to keep them out of the view of unwanted eyes.

_"You're joking right?"_ Oracle asked raising an eyebrow as she watched Jason lift the manhole cover from the floor.

_"I never joke about secret bases red"_ Jason replied winking before dropping into the hole and disappearing from view. Kaine scooped Oracle up from the back of Dinah's bike and dropped down into the blackness after Red Hood, although he didn't need to use the ladder.

_"I can't see a fucking thing"_ Rose muttered as she arrived at the bottom.

_"Just follow my voice"_ Jason called out. He had night vision built into his mask so seeing through the darkness wasn't a problem for him.

Due to Kaine's enhanced senses he was also seeing the tunnel as clearly as if it were mid-day. He followed Jason while being careful not to accidently bump Barbara's head against one of the many pipes that jutted out of the walls. Jason stopped in front of a brick wall and placed his hand against one of the bricks. A small whirring sound echoed through the tunnels as the hidden screen scanned Jason's palm print. A burst of light erupted as part of the brick wall slid up causing Kaine to close his eyes. One of the downsides of having enhanced sense was that sudden changes like that took him a tad longer than normal people to adjust too.

_"Holy crap"_ Ravager gasped as they entered the base. It was huge. Weapons lined the walls and various gadgets sat on the tables.

_"I see you've got your own bat-cave now"_ Barbara muttered as Kaine placed her in a wheelchair that Jason kicked in their direction.

_"Oh please it's a base not a 'bat-cave'"_ Red Hood replied sharply as if insulted by being compared to the cave. _"Jeez its hot in that thing. I really should do something about it"_ Red Hood continued as he pulled the red helmet from his head.

This was the first time Kaine had seen Jason without his mask on and he was surprised by what he saw. He had expected some middle aged, sarcastic, angry looking man but a man in his late twenties with short jet black hair greeted him. You could have walked past him on the street and not even thought twice.

_"Well make yourselves at home and lets talk about what we do next"_ Jason muttered as he slumped down into one of the many chairs scattered round the room.

_"Ok first of all who the hell were those guys?_" Kaine began looking at team.

_"They call themselves Talons and they belong to a sort of cult called the court of owls"_ Barbara replied. _"Their main goal is to take over Gotham."_

_"Why?"_ Kaine asked slightly confused.

_"The same reason they dress up in bird costumes"_ Jason cut in. _"They're a nugget short of a happy meal."_

_"What?"_

_"They're completely bonkers"_ Jason explained seeing his metaphor hadn't been grasped.

_"So why do they want you guys dead?"_ the Scarlet Spider continued trying to understand what they were dealing with.

_"A few years ago they made an attempt to take over Gotham. Myself and Oracle were still part of the Birds back then"_ Dinah explained. _"Helena was running round Europe and Hawk and Dove were doing their own thing."_

_"Ok so this is happening just like before?"_ Kaine asked placing his suit on a table and slumping into a chair.

_"Not exactly like before"_ Dinah replied thoughtfully. _"Last time they attacked they targeted influential citizens in Gotham. Mayors, Politicians people like that but this time they haven't. They've targeted the heroes."_

_"You guys only just figured this out?"_ Jason asked raising an eyebrow. _"Everything that's been happening was to divide, weaken and distract us. Shiva's attack on the bank, Poison Ivy's escape, the Arkham breakout it was all a distraction to keep us from putting it together."_

_"He's right"_ Oracle agreed. _"Even that new drug that appeared was most likely a ploy to keep us busy, separate us and stop us seeing the full picture."_

_"Instead of trying to instantly take over Gotham they are taking us all out. They're rectifying their mistake. Last time they went in guns blazing and got beaten so this time they are taking out the competition before attempting it again"_ Dinah said as she started putting the pieces together.

_"And it's working. They separated us so they could take us 1 by 1"_ Barbara replied a slight note of horror in her voice. _"They used the Arkham incident to call in more of us. It explains why we haven't heard from the Titans or Grayson. It also took Batman away from his manor leaving Cass and Stephanie unprotected."_

_"They played us like fucking violins"_ Hawk snarled punching the wall in anger.

_"So that's it. We're all that's left as the Justice League isn't here"_ Helena said realizing the gravity of their situation.

_"Looks like it"_ Red Hood replied as he pushed a bullet into his gun clip.

_"What the hell are they? I broke one's neck and tossed another from the top of Kord Tower but it didn't do squat"_ Kaine asked remembering how Cobb's neck had snapped and the assassin had simply put it back into place.

_"They are essentially reanimated corpses"_ Barbara began.

_"Undead? Are you screwing with me?"_ Kaine interrupted scoffing.

_"I said essentially that. It is more complicated though. A Talon's body is put in a kind of suspended animation and can only be reanimated by the application of a certain drug that takes over the duties of their body. As a result they don't need to eat, sleep and mostly likely even breath as long as the serum is running through their veins"_ Oracle explained.

_"So how did you stop them last time?"_ Kaine asked but before anyone could reply a beeping noise resonated from one of the control panels.

_"Looks like Bats is calling someone"_ Red Hood said in surprise.

_"Wait you bugged Batman's communications?"_ Lady Blackhawk asked in disbelief.

_"Well he did train me. I still remember some of what he taught me"_ Jason replied as he started up the speaker.

_"Hello? Is anyone there? I'm broadcasting this on all frequencies"_ came a croaky British voice.

_"That's Alfred"_ Oracle exclaimed as she recognized the old butler's voice.

_"If anyone can hear this the court of owls has attacked. I sealed myself in the bunker by miss Brown's request and have been down here for almost 24 hours now unable to get out. I think the Talons are still in the building but I can't be sure. Do not worry about me just warn everyone that they are coming for them and…." _The transmission fell into static before the man could finish.

_"We have to help him"_ Oracle said turning to her team worry etched across her face.

_"Damn straight"_ Jason agreed getting to his feet. Despite his past with Batman, Alfred had been nothing but good to him and he wasn't about to sit back and watch as the Owls killed him. _"You stay here and guide us red"_ Jason continued as he pushed Barbara in front of one of his many PC's. Just as they were about to leave the speaker fired up again. _"That's the police line"_ Red Hood muttered his head snapping round.

_"We've got a 10-30 in progress multiple hostiles attacking multiple persons of unknown identity. We need a taskforce down here now!"_

_"I don't suppose that can be anyone but the owls now can it?"_ Dove sighed.

_"Spider and Huntress you're with me. I'll need your stealth to get into the manor"_ Jason began. _"Canary you're with us too. We might need that scream of yours. Besides I've always had a thing for screamers"_ he finished causing Dinah to glare at him.

_"We'll take the city"_ Lady Blackhawk confirmed as they left the base.

* * *

><p><strong>Gotham City<strong>

As Zinda, Ravager, Hawk and Dove tore down the streets on their bikes they could hear the signs of disturbance they had been informed of by Oracle.

_"Jesus"_ Ravager breathed as they rounded a corner. The sight that greeted them was utter mayhem. Police were firing in all directions as the Talons circled picking them off one by one.

_"Quick we need to draw them away from the police"_ Dove shouted as she rammed her bike into the back of a surprised Talon.

_"I don't think they are the targets"_ Ravager shouted as she got off her bike and pointed to two figures in the middle of the fray.

"Damn they're hunting anyone who wears a god damn mask" Dove thought as she recognized the the pair.

* * *

><p><strong>Red Hood's Base<strong>

Oracle sat at the computer tracking the two groups. She was worried and she didn't mind admitting it. The court of owls redefined the phrase "not to be fucked with". As she watched the scanner she realized how outnumbered Zinda's group was. Barbara was about to activate the comlink and order a retreat when another incoming message distracted her.

_"Hood?"_ the voice was low and grating as if the person speaking had a sore throat.

_"No. I'm a friend"_ Oracle replied. If this guy was a friend of Jason's maybe he could help.

_"How do I know that?"_ the voice asked suspiciously.

_"You don't"_ Barbara replied simply hoping that the man would believe her.

_"What can you tell me about what the hell is going on? Its like a warzone out here"_ the voice continued obviously choosing to believe her.

_"Not much. Gotham is under attack and we need all the help we can get. Can you fight?"_

Grating laughter was her only reply. _"Oh you better believe it."_

_"Good the Birds of Prey need help in downtown Gotham"_ Oracle explained as she took another look at the scanner.

_"Hah that's the group of vigilante women right? Why didn't you say sooner"_ the voice finished cutting the communication before Barbara could ask who she was talking too.

* * *

><p><strong>Gotham City<strong>

_"So these guys friends of yours?"_ Catwoman asked narrowly avoiding a katana as it swung towards her.

_"Hardly"_ the green clad woman next to her replied as she drove her own katana into one of Talon's necks.

_"Looks like we both got duped"_ Selina commented as she performed some advanced acrobatics to avoid a flurry of throwing stars.

_"So you were brought here by a job offer as well?"_ Cheshire asked blandly as she kicked the Talon from her blade.

_"Yep. What do you say we cats stick together until this is over?"_ Selina asked nonchalantly tripping two Talons with her whip.

_"I can see that being mutually beneficial"_ Cheshire agreed her eyes widening in surprise as the Talon she had previously disemboweled got back to its feet seemingly unaffected.

_"Well well what do we have here?"_ Ravager commented as she cut down a Talon not far from the duo.

_"Looks like we aren't the only ones who are having problems tonight"_ Selina commented as she finally noticed the new arrivals.

_"Don't flatter yourself. We're only here to save your sorry asses"_ Hawk said as he drove his fist into a Talon's head sending it flying back.

_"Whatever. How about we take care of whatever the hell these things are and decide who saved who later?"_ Catwoman growled as drove her hand into a nerve cluster on the side of a Talon's neck. The hero's found themselves pushed back to back as the Talon's continued their assault.

_"They just aren't staying down"_ Ravager panted her stamina starting to strain.

_"What the fuck are they?"_ Selina asked the nervousness in her voice starting to show.

Before anyone could replied a Talon lept forward slamming his fist into Ravagers chest while simultaneously spinning on his heal and driving his left foot into Cheshire's head. The two women were thrown back.

_"Surrender now and you shall be allowed to live"_ the Talon stated standing in front of the two as they got to their feet. He was dressed differently from the other Talons. He had more ornate armor and weapons.

_"So you things can talk?"_ Jade snarled looking at the Talon.

_"That we can but it is not encouraged in the lower ranks"_ the man replied simply. _"My name is Henry Ballard and I serve the court of owls. Don't make this any more difficult than it needs to be."_

_"How about I put a sword through your head instead?"_ Ravager snarled lunging forward. The man's superior tone of voice annoyed her.

The Talon spun round evading the blade and drove his fist into Ravager's left flank. Cheshire lept forward to take advantage of the distraction but the man moved with lighting speed dodging her blade as easily as he'd dodged Ravager's.

_"Damn this guy is fast"_ Ravager thought as Ballard fought both her and Cheshire at the same time. The fight continued around them as their teammates fought the other Talons.

_"You can't win this"_ Ballard commented in a 'matter of fact' tone of voice as he parried, dodged and countered their attacks. He wasn't doing much damage to them but they had done no damage to him at all. Suddenly he lunged forward grabbing Cheshire's wrist and twisted violently causing the female assassin to yell out in pain as the Talon put pressure on her tendons. Before Ravager could react he grabbed the katana from Jade's hand and spun on his heel slicing her across the abdomen. Rose hissed in pain as she felt warm blood trickled down her stomach. Jade threw a punch but the Talon grabbed her fist and placed the blade of her own weapon against her neck.

_"Goodbye"_ Ballard muttered coldly as he prepared to slice Jades neck open. He was about to deliver the killing blow when he caught a flash of white out of the corner of his eyes. It closed in fast. Inhumanly fast. Throwing Jade aside Ballard spun round as fast as he could only just managing to block the flaming blade as it struck. The newcomer didn't stop his assault and instantly went on the offensive his dual swords moving in a blur as he threw blow after blow at Ballard.

Ravager got to her feet clutching her abdomen and praying the wound wasn't too deep. She watched as the two men fought their blades moving in a blur of flashing metal. She didn't recognize the man who had just saved Jade. He was clad in a white tunic and ornate chain-mail flowed out from beneath. A white hood shrouded his head and a white mask with red patterning covered his face but the most striking thing were his swords. They seemed to burn with some kind of energy. One orange and one white.

Azrael continued his assault on the surprised Talon. He had cut his way through many of the creatures this night leaving their bodies scattering the rooftops. He'd attempted to contact Red Hood to gain some kind of information on what the hell was going on. He wasn't his friend heck he'd barely even met him a few times but for some reason he trusted him. Maybe it was due to their similar morals? Instead Micheal got some girl who'd informed him that the Birds of Prey needed his assistance. Lane knew who the Birds were and they were pure of spirit so helping them was his only course of action and if he got to banish a few of these hell-spawned creature back to the pits they came from in the process then that was even better.

The sword of sin span in his hand leaving a trail of ethereal fire as it carved its way through the air. The flaming blade caught the Talon on the arm and the assassin hissed in pain before jumping back, disengaging from the angel of death.

_"Who the fuck are you?"_ Ballard growled through girted teeth. Pain was not something he was accustomed too. Being nigh undead meant that he felt no pain at all but whatever was powering the white hooded man's swords burnt with agonizing pain.

_"Your reckoning daemon spawn"_ Lane hissed moving forward. He was instantly jumped by two other Talon's but the swords of salvation and sin made short work of them.

_"Fall back we aren't accomplishing anything here"_ Ballard shouted realizing that they weren't taking any of them down easily and another squad of police were on their way. The assassins quickly disengaged leaving their opponents breathless and slightly worse for the wear. Azrael was about to leap after Ballard when the Talon dropped a smoke bomb obscuring him from view. When the smog cleared the Talons had gone.

_"Well that was rough"_ Hawk muttered as he checked himself over.

"_Would someone mind telling me what the fuck is going on?"_ Catwoman demanded rubbing her throbbing jaw.


	24. Wayne Manor

**Wayne Manor**

_"Holy crap Batman lives here?"_ Kaine muttered as they gazed at the manor from a safe distance.

_"Well he is a multi-billionaire"_ Dinah replied as she scanned the outside for potential threats.

_"Seriously? Why does he even bother with the whole vigilante thing?"_

_"He has his reasons"_ Black Canary replied putting the binoculars satisfied that she couldn't see any Talon's lying in wait for them.

_"So what now?"_ Helena asked as they approached the gate to Wayne manor.

_"We sneak in and try to find Alfred"_ Black Canary replied.

_"Whats plan B?"_ Kaine asked as they continued their approach.

_"We beat the living shit out of anything in a bird costume"_ Dinah hissed fist clenched.

_"I like that!"_ Red Hood piped up from her left._ "Lets make that plan A instead!"_ Before anyone could stop him Jason lept forward breaking cover and ploughed his way towards the manor.

_"Damn him"_ Dinah muttered as she ran after Jason.

_"Oh well this way is a lot more entertaining at least"_ Kaine commented laughing dryly as he shot a webline, swung forward overtaking Jason and landing on the manor's roof.

As soon as he did his spidersense flared and the Scarlet Spider quickly rolled to his right as a throwing knife embedded itself in the area he had previously been occupying.

_"They're still here"_ he shouted to his team as they broke down the down of the manor.

_"What happened to: 'Huntress and Scarlet Spider I want you for your stealth?'"_ Helena demanded angrily.

_"Change of plan. I'm making this up as I got along hun"_ Red Hood replied shrugging before turning his attention back to Kaine. _"We'll find the old boy. You keep them busy"_ Jason yelled back as they entered the building.

_"Gladly"_ Kaine replied more to himself then Jason as the team was already out earshot. He turned to face the enemy and watched as they emerged from the shadows caused by the many gargoyles lining Wayne manors roof.

_"You know what I love about you guys?"_ the Scarlet Spider said his lips curving into a smile beneath his mask. The Talon's didn't reply but instead began to encircle him. _"It's the fact that I don't have to hold back a smidgen of strength against you."_

Spinning round Kaine grabbed one of the gargoyles, his fingers cracking the stone as he did. A creaking sound erupted as he tensed his arm muscles and ripped the gargoyle from the roof taking its pedestal with it before turning and throwing it as hard as he could at the approaching assassins. Some of them cried out in surprise as roughly 2 tons of solid stone slammed into the group trapping a few of them beneath it and throwing a few others back.

_"Jeez what the hell is going on up there?"_ Dinah gasped as she heard the creaking sound and watched as dust fell from the ceiling as the roof shuddered.

_"Sounds like the Spider-guy is having some fun to me"_ Red Hood muttered as he tore through the house heading for the Batcave. The three hero's sped into the study where the secret entrance to the Batcave was hidden.

_"What's that noise?"_ Helena commented her head snapping up as a loud snapping sound came from above. She watched in horror as the roof cracked and began to cave._ "Look out!"_ she screamed grabbing Dinah and pulling her back. Jason was just able to throw himself to the side as part of the roof crashed to the floor sending debris flying in all directions. As the dust cleared the group made out the shape of a large object in the center of the room.

_"Boy is Bruce gonna be pissed when he see's what Spider did to his gargoyles"_ Jason chuckled looking at the large stone statue and the Talon trapped beneath.

In a flash of red Kaine dropped into the room and before anyone could blink he ripped one of the stone horns from the gargoyle's head before driving it into the trapped Talon's head through the left eyepiece.

_"Heal from that asshole"_ the Scarlet Spider muttered as the Talon's head slumped limply to the ground.

_"Damn"_ Jason muttered as he pulled at one of the books in the bookcase expecting the secret passage to reveal itself but nothing happened. _"He's changed the entrance key"_ Red Hood cursed as he began pulling at all the books. Suddenly the other Talons dropped down.

_"We'll hold them. Just get the god damn door open"_ Huntress shouted as she hit the nearest Talon in the head with her bo-staff before spinning on her heal and tripping another.

_"What the hell are you doing?"_ Kaine snapped as he grabbed a Talon by the head and slammed it into the floor. Had that been a normal human its skull would have caved it but the creatures unnatural durability saved it from being obliterated.

_"I'm looking for the mother fucking entrance!"_ Jason snapped back. Bruce had obviously changed the way in. Why wouldn't he? Especially as he had an ex-Robin running around with a bone to pick with him.

_"Well hurry up"_ the Scarlet Spider replied irritably.

_"It's not that easy Batman is a master of hiding things. There could be a million ways of getting in and we still wouldn't see them"_ Red Hood replied exasperatedly.

_"Fuck this"_ Kaine growled tossing a Talon aside before jumping towards Todd. He landed in front of the bookcase and ripped it from the wall taking some of the bricks with it as the case had been attached to the wall like a door. Turning the Scarlet Spider threw it into the Talon's who quickly retreated as the case flew towards them.

_"One thing you should know about me is that I'm not a patient guy"_ Kaine muttered turning to Jason.

_"I'll bare that in mind"_ Red Hood replied as he and the others sped down the secret corridor.

_"Wow whats with the decor "_ Kaine asked as he observed the articles lining the cave.

_"You'll need to asked him that"_ Dinah replied following Kaine's gaze.

_"Yo Spider-guy can you come tear this off like you do everything else?"_ Red Hood called to him as he stopped in front of a large metal door.

_"Looks like a safe"_ the Scarlet Spider commented as he gripped the sides of the door and began to pull.

The wall and the metal covering it protested as Kaine's inhuman strength began to tear it from its foundation. Huntress watched as Kaine's feet dug into floor causing the concrete to give way beneath him. With one sudden jerk the door snapped free and the Scarlet Spider tossed it aside.

_"Hey mister you in here?"_ he began as he looked into the dark room.

Suddenly his spidersense went off but due to the absence of any immediate danger he didn't react fast enough and a crowbar swung round from the left and stuck him in the face.

_"Ow mhy dose"_ Kaine cried as he took a step back clutching his face.

_"Alfred!"_ Dinah shouted in relief as an elderly man emerged from the room clutching the crowbar in both hands.

_"Miss Lance, Miss Bertinelli, Master Todd?"_ Alfred said in surprise obviously expecting them to be Talons. _"Oh my. Sir I'm so sorry"_ the butler began apologetically as he watched Kaine pull up his mask to prevent the blood streaming from his nose saturating the fabric and preventing him from breathing.

_"I've been fighting zombie bird-people all night and the one person who actually makes me bleed is an old man? Bloody typical"_ Kaine muttered.

_"We need to get out of here before the Talons regroup"_ Jason said looking over his shoulder to check that they hadn't caught up yet.

_"Is there anyone else in the manor?"_ Dinah asked taking Alfred by the arm.

_"I don't think so. When they attacked master Bruce was at Arkham. Miss Brown insisted I hide in the bunker before I could protest she and Miss Cain locked me in there to keep the Talon's from getting to me. I heard the fight from inside the room and thankfully those monsters didn't kill them. I heard one of them order them to take the girls to the holding area. They then tried to get into the bunker but it was too strong for them and they sent some of their men away to get something to blow the door in"_ Alfred explained slightly mournfully.

_"Kaine are you ok?"_ Helena asked turning to the Scarlet Spider who was wiping the blood from his face.

_"Oh i'm just dandy. Taking a crowbar to the face doesn't hurt at all"_ he replied sarcastically as he pulled the masked back over his nose and mouth.

_"I'm so sorry sir. When the door came off I assumed it was the Talons"_ Alfred said apologetically.

_"Its fine. You've got quite a swing on you for an old guy"_ Kaine replied leaping towards the exit.

* * *

><p><strong>Gotham City<strong>

_"Well? Are you going to tell us whats going on?"_ Selina demanded as they scanned the area for more Talons.

_"Not here. We need to get back to our base in case they come back"_ Zinda explained as she made her way towards her parked motorbike.

_"I don't have time for this. The devils agents stalk the city and you want me to run and hide? No thank you"_ came Azrael's deep voice. _"You can go hide if you like but I will not stand this filth to continue to draw breath."_

Before anyone could say anything Lane moved into the shadows and disappeared from view.

_"Interesting fellow"_ Hawk muttered as he looked at the area the angel of death had previously occupied.

_"I'm sure he can take care of himself lets just get out of here"_ Ravager said as she got on her own bike.

Catwoman and Cheshire got on the back of any bike that had enough room to take them and they sped back to Red Hood's base. When they entered they base they found that Red Hood's team had already returned with Alfred.

_"Alfred"_ Zinda cried out happily moving forward and hugging the old man.

_"It's good to see you miss Blake"_ the old man replied returning her embrace.

_"Oh great"_ Jason began sourly as he saw Catwoman and Cheshire. _"My social calendar is complete."_

_"Oh give it a rest"_ Selina snapped annoyed at his tone.

_"Who are your friends?"_ Kaine asked from is position at the other end of the room.

_"I wouldn't go so far as to call them friends"_ Zinda replied looking at the pair _"but it seems we're all in the same boat."_

_"The enemy of my enemy is my friend and all that crap"_ Hawk muttered.

_"So you must be the Scarlet Spider guy I've been hearing about over the grapevine"_ Catwoman said looking the crimson clad man up and down. _"You've generated quite a reputation."_

_"What's it you?"_ Kaine asked his eyes narrowing beneath his mask.

_"The gangs in Gotham seem genuinely scared of you"_ Selina continued. _"I've heard some pretty nasty little tales as well. Face's with handprints carved into them, limbs mangled, people beat within an inch of their life etc.."_

Kaine didn't reply instead he simply stared at her. Selina didn't like it when Batman did this to but at least she could still see his mouth show some emotion every now and then but the large red lenses and black mask obscured Kaine's whole face rendering him quite un-nerving.

_"Sit down and I'll explain the situation"_ Oracle said looking at the group. They all approached and listened to what Barbara had to say.

_"That's quite a story"_ Catwoman commented raising an eyebrow after she'd finished listening. _"You can count me in."_

_"What?"_ Red Hood asked in surprise looking at her.

_"I said you can count me in"_ Selina repeated.

_"I thought it would have taken more convincing than that"_ Jason continued suspiciously.

_"What can I say you don't know me all that well"_ Catwoman finished. The real reason she agreed to help was of course because Batman had been captured by the Talons. They may have had an on and off relationship but she wasn't going to stand back and let the Court of owls kill him.

_"I don't want any part of this"_ Cheshire said as she turned to leave._ "This is not my concern."_

_"Actually it is. Did you not hear anything Oracle just told you? Or is there nothing but air between your ears?"_ Kaine snapped.

_"I don't care what you think. I have no problem with the Court of Owls"_ Jade growled spinning round to face Kaine.

To her surprise he put his hand to his masked face and sneezed.

_"Oh I'm sorry"_ he began_ "but I'm allergic to bullshit."_

_"You got a problem bug?"_ Cheshire her hand flashing to the katana handle on her back.

"Uh oh" Dinah thought and began moving forward preparing to stop the oncoming fight. Before she could however she felt a hand on her shoulder.

_"Wait I want to see how this plays out"_ Red Hood said. Dinah could tell from his tone that he was smiling beneath his mask. _"If it looks like they are going to hurt each other we'll step in. I promise. Scouts honor."_

_"Actually yes I do have a problem and its your lack of common sense lady"_ the Scarlet Spider hissed his muscles tensing. _"These guys don't give a fuck if you have or haven't got a problem with them they'll hunt you down anyway and your either too ignorant or too stupid to see it."_

This was the only push Jade needed and the katana flashed from its scabbard. Kaine reacted instinctively raising his hand and tensing the tendons in his wrist causing the stinger to appear. He deflected the sword easily. Jade was briefly taken aback by the appearance of the weapon. She had assumed like the rest of them he was human but as she continued to fight him she realized this man was far from human. His movements where too fast and too precise for any human to replicate.

_"He's a meta isn't he?"_ Selina asked turning to Huntress who was also watching the pair spar.

_"No by Oracles calculations he's super-human classification"_ Helena replied not taking her eyes of the fight. She could tell by Kaine's controlled movements that he wasn't treating Jade as a threat he was just trying to put her in her place.

Cheshire lunged forward and the Scarlet Spider side stepped to avoid the blade before wrapping his hand around it and snapping the metal as if it was made of wood. He took advantage of the woman's surprise to push her against the wall stinger placed at her neck.

_"I don't care what you believe or whether or not you think this is your problem but guess what? I'm making it your god damn problem"_ the Scarlet Spider hissed bringing his face close to hers attempting to stare her down using the un-nerving red lenses of his suit.

_"Fine"_ Jade relented pushing him aside. It wasn't very often someone bested her that easily so she was curious to learn more about him not to mention if what he said was true staying would be in her best interest if she wanted to keep breathing.

* * *

><p><strong>Notes:<strong> We will be seeing Azrael again. Here's there answers to a few questions pmed to me:

**1. Will Lincoln March and Damian Wayne appear in Birds And Spiders and will we see Bruce and Damian fight Lincoln March?**

Damian will probably have a mention but i'm not sure he'll actually be in the story. With regards to March your'll have to wait and see ;)

**2. Will Catgirl (Kitrina Falcone) appear in Birds And Spiders?**

I don't have any plans to use her so probably not.

**3. Is Talia al Ghul ever going to appear in the story?**

She may get a mention but I have no plans to use her.

**4. Will the JLA try to recruit Kaine?**

No. I'm keeping this on a street level basis. The big guns don't really interest me. They did get a mention a few chapters back though.


	25. Insomnia

**Red Hood's Safehouse**

_"Couldn't sleep either?" _

Red Hood's head snapped in the direction of the voice. After Kaine and Jade's confrontation they had decided to get some rest. Jason had barely slept five hours but he didn't feel tired. Nor did Barbara apparently as she wheeled herself towards him. Although this was more of a base of operations than a home there was still enough rooms for everyone to fit comfortably.

_"Not really a time for sleep red"_ Jason replied as he began putting his weapon back together. He'd been in the process of cleaning his gun when Oracle had appeared.

She approached him awkwardly and stopped next to him. Barbara always had trouble talking to Jason. Why shouldn't she? He wasn't like the other members of the Bat-family and had previously fought against them.

_"So whats next?"_

The question shook Oracle from her thoughts and she looked at Jason's expectant face.

_"I guess find this holding area. Wherever that is. The Talons have captured Bruce, Cass, Stephanie and quite possibly Grayson, Drake and some of the Titans too as we haven't been able to contact them. We need to get them out as soon as possible"_ Barbara replied a note of worry in her voice.

_"If they're not already dead of course"_ Jason muttered as the last piece of the pistol clicked into place.

_"Don't pretend like you don't care Jason. I know you better than that"_ Oracle said sharply. Jason wasn't bad. Not really. She remembered him when he'd been Robin. So full of joy and excitement all that had changed with the Joker of course.

That sick psychopath had done so much to both of them. Part of her agreed with Jason that the clown should be put down but she also knew why Batman wouldn't do it. Whereas she had accepted and understood it Jason had seen it as an act of betrayal. He didn't hate him or the others though. Not really.

_"I don't care red. Would I prefer it if they were alive? Sure. Doesn't mean I'll go out of my way to cry about it if they aren't though"_ Jason replied curtly.

_"Still that should be our next move"_ Barbara insisted.

_"Ok we'll start looking into it now"_ Jason relented. _"Hopefully we'll find something before the others wake up."_

* * *

><p><strong>A few hours later<strong>

Kaine lay on his back looking at the ceiling of the weapons closet. Despite the sheets it would have been cold if it wasn't for Helena sleeping on top of him. Her jet black hair sprawling over his chest as she used him as a pillow. For the first time in his life he didn't really have any idea where his was going. Previously Kaine had been focused on revenge, then escaping his past and now Madame Webb sent him to some other dimension where he'd met a woman who made him want to do anything just to be near her and who had the innate ability to control him with nothing but her eyes and words. The reason he would fight these Talons or whatever they were called was for her.

If he thought she would run away with him then he would do that to keep her safe but Kaine knew she wouldn't abandon her friends and it would be selfish to even ask. That left but one option. Find them and kill them. All of them. Down to the last wretched one so they would never come back to haunt her or her friends again but where did he start looking.

_"Gah"_ Kaine let out a grunt of frustration and instantly regretted it as he felt Huntress's skin move against his, an indication that he'd woken her. Her head shifted to look up at him as she brushed a few locks of black hair from her eyes. Kaine couldn't believe how she could still look this gorgeous despite the haze of sleep still clouding her face.

_"What is it?"_ Helena asked as she noticed the frustration on his face.

_"Nothing. I'm just thinking about where we go from here"_ he replied as he pushed a stray lock of her hair she'd missed behind Huntress's ear.

Helena's heart jumped. She wasn't good at talking about her feelings but she had meant what she'd told Kaine the first time they'd been together. She didn't want it to be a one-night thing.

_"Can we wait until after this thing with the Owls is dealt with before we talk about us?"_ she asked cursing herself for taking the easy way out. Kaine looked at her in surprise. _"You were talking about what we should do about the Owls weren't you?"_ Helena began, realizing her mistake.

_"Yes but we should talk about us too"_ Kaine replied quickly.

_"Look I like you. I really do but with all this going on and my friends being in danger I can't think straight"_ Huntress continued biting her lower lip nervously. _"Is there any chance you would be content to just be there for me until then?"_ Helena really hated herself at that point and wished she'd shut up but for some reason her mouth was on auto-pilot saying things she was sure she didn't mean.

Kaine looked slightly dejected but nodded in agreement.

_"Thank you"_ Helena smiled as she pulled herself up his body so her head was level with his and kissed him. A crash followed by a shout of anger caused Kaine to quickly push Helena from him and dart into the main room. Had he been concentrating he would have known whatever it was wasn't a threat as his spider-sense hadn't gone off but he hadn't so he burst into the room stingers extended.

Heads snapped round at his abrupt entrance. Luckily he was still wearing the bottom half of his suit or the current situation would have been awkward.

_"So that's what you look like under that mask"_ Cheshire commented raising an eyebrow in approval.

_"Wow you're jumpy"_ Catwoman said eyeing Kaine as he straightened up out of his aggressive stance.

_"Well when you're under threat by undead people who dress up as birds it doesn't really help to calm your nerves now does it?"_ the Scarlet Spider snapped back. _"What was that noise anyway?"_ he asked turning away from Selina.

_"It was happy-go-lucky over there"_ Hawk replied gesturing to Jason who was currently punching the wall in frustration.

_"What's the problem?"_ Kaine asked approaching Red Hood as he turned away from the wall.

_"We can't find them. Any of them. Me and Oracle have been looking for hours but it's like they just disappeared into thin air"_ Jason cursed angrily, frustration evident in his voice. Kaine turned his attention to Barbara.

_"Look Oracle I know the people captured were your allies but we are wasting time searching for them. We should be looking for a way to stop the Owls."_

_"Not a chance"_ Barbara replied sharply from behind her laptop.

_"Believe me I know a bit about emotional pain but we can't expect to win if we don't face the problem head on"_ Kaine snapped back his temper rising to meet Barbara's.

_"WE ARE NOT LEAVING THEM!"_ Oracle shouted back startling the others.

_"SO YOU'D CONDEMN US TO DEATH INSTEAD?_" Kaine shouted back eyes blazing. _"You'll forgive if I'm not prepared to throw my life away for people I barely even know. This isn't worth our time and it definitely isn't worth our blood. I know this is hard but we can't waste our time searching for them when the Owls could be at our doorstep any moment now"_ the Scarlet Spider finished calming himself. He removed his hand from the desk he'd been grasping in anger revealing a burning mark in the shape of a hand.

_"So you'd prefer to just let them die?"_ Barbara asked coldly.

_"What the fuck do you expect me to do?"_ Kaine countered struggling to keep his cool.

_"I want you not to give up. I want you to pull out whatever decency you have left in you and help us find them!"_ Oracle snapped.

_"Well this is going well"_ Dove whispered to Dinah as they watched the argument.

_"Hopefully it won't get out of hand"_ Dinah whispered back her eyes firmly fix on the pair.

_"How? I don't have special people detecting powers. I'm not a bloodhound. I'm strong, I'm fast, I can shoot god damn webs none of which help to show us where the Talons have hidden them"_ Kaine snapped back. "_I know! Why don't I go stick to a wall for a while? Maybe the Talons will just stroll by and tell me where to find them"_ he continued sarcastically. Barbara's eyes narrowed angrily._ "Or I know how about I talk to…"_ Kaine began but then trailed off.

A look of realization began spreading across his face. Turning away from Oracle he closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths.

_"What are you doing?"_ Cheshire asked looking at him curiously.

_"Just shut the fuck up a moment"_ Kaine replied placing his fingers on his temples.

Huntress emerged from the room largely unnoticed by the group apart from Ravager who happened to glimpse her leaving the same room she'd seen Kaine enter the night before. It didn't take a rocket scientist to put two and two together and a pang of jealousy flashed through her but she pushed it to one side a returned to looking at Kaine as the others were.

After his resurrection Kaine had gained quite a few abilities he still didn't quite understand yet. He was still waiting on Julia to give him the run-down but she was generally less than helpful so he'd had to figure quite a few things out for himself. One of his new abilities he had come across quite by chance and it was the ability to communicate with spiders. Kaine had discovered he could do this when a small spider had crawled onto his hand during a bus trip and he suddenly found himself seeing the world through the tiny creatures eyes. The experience had been so shocking he had jumped to his feet in surprise and ripped the bus seat from the metal support in the process so he'd had to make a quick exit.

It wasn't an ability that he used very often but it was very effective for covering huge distances. Being able to see the world through the eyes of every spider in Gotham meant there was almost no place anyone could hide from him for long. Then he saw it. Barely a flash but it was definitely Batman he recognized the mask. Concentrating he attempted to pinpoint the exact position. To his surprise Batman seemed to be below ground level. As he looked through the spiders eyes he found himself above the floor looking down. Batman was curled up in a corner not moving however that was not what confused him the most. It was almost as if he was looking down at some kind of maze. Walls criss-crossed everywhere creating a jigsaw-like pattern.

_"Kaine?"_

The voice followed by a hand on his shoulder snapped him out of his trance but it didn't matter he had what he needed to know.

_"I know where Batman is"_ Kaine began, turning to Dinah as she removed her hand from his shoulder.

_"What?"_ Oracle exclaimed her previous anger turning to surprise.

_"He's underground somewhere. In some sort of maze. Any of you know of anything like that?"_

A flash of recognition passed across Barbara's face as Kaine said this.

_"Last time the Court of Owls attacked they took Batman prisoner, put him in a maze beneath Gotham and used psychological torture to try and break him"_ Oracle replied looking at Kaine suspiciously. _"How do you know where he is? Or about the maze?"_

_"I…..ermm…"_ Kaine began hesitantly. He knew how weird this was going to sound. _"I can talk to spiders"_ he relented sighing at how stupid that sounded.

_"You can talk to….bwhahaahhahahaha"_ Barbara began, bursting into laughter. She was quickly followed by a few other of the people in the vicinity.

_"Yeah, yeah, yeah laugh it up but I found him. What have you done?"_ Kaine muttered angrily.

Even Huntress was smiling slightly as well, a quick glare from the Scarlet Spider made her pull a straight face but the laughter was still in her eyes. Kaine couldn't help but smile slightly as well as the thought of being able to communicate with spiders seemed hilarious to him as well.

_"I'm sorry"_ Barbara finished choking back her laughter._ "I just didn't expect that."_

_"Its fine. It doesn't seem any less stupid to me either"_ Kaine replied sighing.

_"Well now we know where he is we can…"_ Oracle was cut off by a beeping noise coming from one of the computer panels.

_"Who is this?"_ Jason asked as he pressed a button on the panel and spoke into the microphone.

_"Its Azrael"_ came the familiar gritty voice.

_"Yo Az heard you were running around. What can I do for a psycho religious nutbar like yourself?"_ Jason asked sarcasm evident in his voice.

_"Cut the crap Hood. The Owls are launching attacks on important members of Gotham society. I've been hunting these things all night"_ Lane replied impatiently.

_"It's me again"_ Barbara said picking up the mic and pushing Jason aside. _"Who are the targets?"_

_"All of them"_ Azrael replied darkly.

_"Wait what do you mean all of them?"_ Oracle asked dreading the answer.

_"I mean they are trying to take out anyone who has any authority in Gotham. Police chiefs, Politicians and businessmen" _ Azrael replied confirming what Oracle had feared.

_"Shit. They're doing what they did last time. Targeting high profile people to induce panic and anarchy"_ Barbara growled.

_"I can't stay on the line I'm already tracking another. You and your people better get your asses in gear before this gets out of hand"_ Azrael finished before the line went dead.

_"We need to move now. Scarlet Spider you go and find Batman. I was going to send a group of us to rescue him but there's no time. You know where he is and you're abilities mean you'll be much faster than any of us"_ Barbara said turning to the Scarlet Spider.

_"I'm on it"_ Kaine replied turning and walking back to the room where he'd left the top half of his costume.

_"The rest of us need to get out on the streets now and disrupt the Owls as best we can"_ Oracle continued looking at the rest of the team.

_"Agreed we need to keep them at bay as long as possible to give us time to come up with a plan"_ Dinah nodding in agreement. Just then Kaine re-emerged pulling the mask over his face.

_"Oh and Spider while you're out there try and find some kind of sign of the others"_ Oracle added as Kaine made his way to the exit.


	26. Complications

**Gotham Sewers**

_"God I hate sewers"_ Kaine muttered to himself as he crawled through the circular tunnels. Taking care not to slip and fall in the foul looking liquid beneath him. Doing this brought back memories of chasing a certain Curt Conner around. Except they weren't his memories were they? He quickly shook his head to get rid of those thoughts. Although he had long since accepted that he was a clone there was still some bitterness there that he preferred not to bring up. As Kaine pushed those thoughts aside a certain dark haired woman replaced them. He couldn't understand her. Then again what else was new? The day men could understand women or visa versa would be an incredible day indeed but it wasn't going to be anytime soon. She had said she liked him. That was something at least.

Kaine wasn't an impatient person, quite the opposite actually. Proven by how long he had waited before returning to Peter's life or how long he had planned his vengeance on the Jackal and Reilly. However he couldn't help but feel slightly rejected. Kaine knew in his head that she hadn't actually rejected him just pushed answering the question back. However due to his past experience with the Jackal the person he still thought of as his farther to this day, he didn't take any kind of rejection well and it caused that anger to flare in him. The same anger that had created the black cloaked monster that had butchered people just to spite the world around him.

As he thought about this Kaine was surprised that he still considered the Jackal his farther. How sick was that? He reasoned with himself by saying that it was just because Warren had created him and raised him. Miles had just been an abusive parent, granted not many abusive parents grew their children in a test tube to be someone else, then tried to kill them the instant they became imperfect. However the fact that he still considered the Jackal as his farther didn't change how he felt. Make no mistake if the Jackal had been there in front of him right now he wouldn't have hesitated to rip the green bastard to shreds.

The Scarlet Spider had been so lost in his thoughts that he almost crawled past the manhole leading to his destination. Placing his hand against the metal he pushed up. The cover put up a bit of resistance but gave way and the Scarlet Spider proceeded to peer into the new environment opened up to him. Upon seeing that he was alone he climbed out. It was then he realized why the cover had put up a bit of a fight. The floor was covered in about 6 inches of some kind of stone, marble perhaps? And he had pushed the cover up from beneath. Obviously whoever built this maze hadn't considered the idea of a superpowered individual breaking in instead of breaking out.

He closed his eyes and tried to use the spiders to find which way to go. It didn't take him long to re-locate Batman. He was still in the same place he had been earlier. Shooting a webline from his wrist Kaine pulled himself up and began crawling along the ceiling looking down at the maze beneath.

_"C'mon Bats where are you?"_ he muttered scanning the darkness.

The size of the maze was impressive. It was so big in fact that Kaine noticed giant pillars in place to support the roof of the structure. Finally he found saw him. Batman was hunched up in a corner and looked like more of a black ball of fabric than a person. The Scarlet Spider dropped down and approached the motionless figure cautiously.

_"Hey man. You all right?"_ he asked pulling Bruce round to face him.

Batman's eyes were bloodshot, his skin was soaked in perspiration and his body was trembling uncontrollably. "Must be some kind of drug" Kaine thought as he picked the man up and pulled one of his arms over his own shoulder to support Bruce.

_"Time to go"_ the Scarlet Spider muttered as he prepared to leap back to the ceiling.

The sound of something cutting through the air coupled with his spider-sense caused him to falter mid-leap and throw himself to the right just as three throwing knives whizzed past him.

_"I thought this was too easy"_ Kaine muttered as he landed back on the floor eyes darting around in search the attacker.

_"I told you to impress me. Remember?"_ came a smug voice followed by a flash of silver. The Scarlet Spider lept away again narrowly avoiding the knife.

_"So you're still going huh? I thought a fall like that would have at least put you out the running for a while"_ Kaine growled as Cobb stepped out of the shadows spinning a knife nonchalantly in his left hand.

_"Afraid not. I'm a fast healer"_ Cobb replied as he began to circle Kaine. Placing Bruce on the ground the Scarlet Spider focused all his attention on Cobb.

_"Looks like i'll have to test how well you can really heal"_ Kaine snarled stingers sprouting from his wrists. Suddenly Cobb disappeared from view. "What the?" Kaine thought momentarily taken aback turning to his left he found Cobb standing there knife in hand and a small smile playing beneath his mask. The assassin lashed out and Kaine was only just fast enough to avoid a nasty injury to his chest. "Whats going on?" he thought eyeing the Talon. Cobb had never moved this fast before. The past times he had fought him Cobb had been superhuman yes but never that fast.

William lunged again this time lashing out with his fist. The Scarlet Spider swung round to meet his blow with his own. They're fists collided making a sickening crack as they did. The force of the blow threw Kaine back slightly. "He's stronger too. What the hell is going on?" he thought gritting his teeth and attempting to ignore the pain of what he suspected to be multiple broken fingers.

"_What the fuck did you do to yourself?"_ Kaine hissed eyeing Cobb murderously.

Cobb didn't reply and just lunged forward again with the same frightening speed he had last time. Kaine bit back a yelp as the blade sliced through his thigh. Cobb was physically faster now. His reaction speed had been lethal before-hand due to the weapons training. Now coupled with this new speed boost he was far more terrifying. The Scarlet Spider swung and missed and Cobb ducked under his armed and sliced him across the torso. Kaine quickly put some distance between them blood trickling down his chest and leg.

_"You can beat this guy. Stop fighting like an idiot and start fighting smart!"_ he growled to himself.

Cobb lunged again this time Kaine grabbed his wrist and surgically turned putting pressure on the tendons Cobb had been taken by surprise by this and didn't have time to counter. Before Cobb could react Kaine shifted his weight and drove his leg into the lower part of the Talon's left leg breaking the bone. Cobb broke away stumbling as his leg tried to heal itself.

_"Someone has been training you in martial arts huh?"_ the Talon stated dryly. He recognized those movements.

The Scarlet Spider threw himself back at Cob. He'd caught him off-guard he needed to take advantage of the situation. Although Kaine was nowhere near as experienced at hand to hand fighting as Cobb his spider-sense gave him the reaction speed required to keep up.

Kick met kick, blow met blow, counter met counter and blood met blood as they danced around each trying to get the upper hand. As the fight progressed the Scarlet Spider began to realize he wasn't going to win. He was inflicting damage alright but thanks to the Talon's healing ability the injuries seemed to heal before he threw his next blow whereas he was keeping every injury the Talon inflicted on him.

He had to break away, get Batman and get out while he still could. The Scarlet Spider shifted his weight beginning to throw a punch towards the Talons jaw. Cobb reading his body movements moved his hands to deflect the blow but Kaine stopped half-way through the motion. Cobb realized all too late that the attack had been a feint as Kaine's armed wrapped around his neck and his knee came crashing into his groin. Cobb groaned and fell to the floor.

_"I was worried that you might not have felt that being undead and all"_ the Scarlet Spider said dryly.

_ "The enemy isn't going to fight fair. Why should you?"_ Helena's words echoed in his mind. When he got back he should remind himself to thank her for that piece of advice.

Grabbing Batman he began running through the maze stopping briefly to web up his injuries to prevent too much blood loss. He'd just arrived at the way he'd got in when he felt Batman's hand on his chest pushing him back.

_"Can't…..leave"_ he managed to croak through strained breath.

_"The others aren't here they're being held somewhere else. You're the only one I could find"_ Kaine replied as he pushed Batman's hand aside.

_"N-no….can't…leave. Have to….stop….before all…..like…..Cobb"_ Bruce strained as Kaine propped him up against the wall.

_"What do you mean all of them like Cobb? Wait all of them superhuman like that?"_ Kaine asked slightly in horrified.

_"Yes….must…go…back and ….destroy the serum"_ Bruce continued using the wall to push himself to his feet.

_"What did they do to themselves?"_ the Scarlet Spider asked his eyes darting round the area for signs of Cobb.

_"My fault"_ Batman replied darkly.

_"Your fault? What did you do?"_ Kaine asked suddenly focused on Bruce.

_"I'm sorry….didn't trust you…had….to know what you were"_ Batman replied his voice beginning to level out. _"At the tower I…took a sample of your blood. When the Talon's invaded the manor...they…got everything. They...added it to their serum"_ Batman explained as he checked his belt for supplies.

Kaine's eyes widened in anger and horror. That was why Cobb had been different. He been subjected to his own blood. Whatever they had done had enhanced the Talon's abilities to his own level.

_"You idiot! You might have just killed us all!"_ the Scarlet Spider seethed grabbing Batman by the neck.

_"If you….didn't lie…all the time…I wouldn't have had to do it!"_ Bruce growled back through strained breath as Kaine's hand cut off his airflow.

_"What the fuck are you talking about?"_ Kaine asked loosening his grip.

_"Don't try to bullshit me!"_ Batman snapped pushing Kaine's hand away. _"I ran your DNA through my entire database. I found nothing. Ziltch. Nada. You're not a ghost you're far more invisible than that. It's as if one day you just appeared from nowhere with absolutely no past. No one is that good! Not even me. Also you genetic make up. It's a template! Copied from someone or something else. You're not who you say you are. You weren't born you were created."_

_"I don't need to explain myself to anyone. Especially you!"_ Kaine growled turning away.

_"Who are you working for?"_ Batman demanded eyeing the Scarlet Spider._ "One day you show up out of nowhere and the Birds Of Prey take you in and you just happen to be a synthetic human grown with these abilities. Are you part of Cadmus? Are you a cl-"_

_"Choose your next words carefully"_ the Scarlet Spider said threateningly as he turned back to face Bruce. Batman simply glared back at him. _"This won't get us anywhere. Lets go destroy the serum and we'll talk later"_ Kaine hissed as he re-entered the maze.

_"Wait i'm not done talking"_ Bruce growled as he followed the Scarlet Spider back into the darkness.

_"Yes you are"_ Kaine snapped back not halting in his stride. Bruce's hand whipped out and grabbed Kaine's upper arm and forced him to stop.

_"For years the Court Of Owls go silent and suddenly you appear and out of the blue they return."_

_"Coincidence"_ Kaine replied turning his red lenses to glare at Batman menacingly.

_"Fuck coincidences. I don't believe in them"_ Bruce insisted.

_"If I was on their side you'd be dead by now. Instead I break in to break you out only to find that you've handed the secret of making an army of super-soldiers on a golden platter"_ Kaine snapped ripping Batman's hand from his arm abruptly.

_"Hey you can't pin all this on me!"_ Batman growled. _"Those people are my friends and you? You're a superhuman with anger management issues and a questionable past you can't blame me for wanting to protect them especially as you refuse to tell us anything about you."_

_"They are my friends too"_ Kaine snapped back keeping his eyes on the way ahead surprised at how easily those words had rolled off his lips.

_"How much do they actually know about you though?"_ Bruce asked sourly. The question caught Kaine off-guard and it was only then that the magnitude of how little the Birds knew about him hit home.

_"They know I'm not a threat to them. Until this is over that will have to be enough for now"_ he muttered.

The pair walked through the maze in silence stopping every few minutes to allow Batman to catch his breath. Kaine was surprised at the willpower the man possessed. He'd been drugged and left down here to rot and here he was still standing and willing to fight if need be. They stuck to the shadows keeping a low profile, Cobb was most likely tracking them.

* * *

><p><strong>In the 616 Marvel Universe<strong>

_"Gahhh"_ Julia groaned placing her hand to her head as pain shot through it.

She had been attempting to contact Kaine when the psychic backlash had occurred. She couldn't understand it. Prior to this making contact with Kaine hadn't been too difficult. A little draining but never painful. Julia shook her head in an attempt to dull the pain and tried again. The same thing happened eyes rolled back into her head and she fell to the floor. "What the hell is going on?" she thought propping herself upright. She closed her eyes and rather than try to use her brute psionic force to push through to Kaine she decided to track the source of the problem.

She reached out peeling away the layers of reality piece by piece. What she found Julia had not expected. The source of the problem was not in the other reality as she had anticipated but in-between the two realities. The astral plain perhaps? However wherever it was, it was near. Very near.

Reaching out she peeled away more of the darkness of the world around her but nothing but blackness surrounded her. Suddenly she felt afraid but this was not human fear. It was primal, animalistic. The kind of fear you get when you know something is out to hurt you even if you don't know who or indeed what it is. It was as if the word **"RUN!"** had been scorched into her head in giant 10 meter tall neon lights. Then she saw them. Two glowing turquoise dots. As soon as they blinked she knew they were eyes.

_"I see you"_ a voice hissed coldly.

Julia's eyes shot back open and she pulled herself to her feat. She had to run. He was here. He was coming for her. She needed to run now. Before she could even break into a stride the hand closed around her throat.

_"That's not possible. You're not that fast"_ she gasped as the vice-like grip tightened.

_"So you are the new Madame Webb?"_ the man muttered in the same cold voice Julia had heard earlier. His long dark hair flowing around his face. _"Where is he?"_ the man asked pointedly looking her in the eyes.

_"I don't know who you're talking about"_ Julia gasped trying to tear the man's arm from her throat.

_"Please don't insult my intelligence"_ the man sighed._ "I had just began to track him. He smelt like the Spider but different. Although the Spider would have been more fulfilling I am quite happy to settle for something less heavy. Besides I will come back for the Spider after I have finished with this….anomaly."_

_"He's not here. I won't let you get him or Spider-man"_ Julia growled back.

_"Peter will become my prey soon enough"_ the man replied smiling. The shocked look on Julia's face at the mention of Spider-man's real name caused the man's smile to grow. _"You think that man's real name means anything to me?"_ he asked. _"He is nothing to me but prey. I care not for his name or who he is. I will use your connection to the web to track the other Spiders starting with this 'other' Peter Parker then once I have taken them all I will then take your life"_ he said his eyes burning. Then he leaned in bringing his mouth to her ear before whispering.

_"But please believe me when I say that this is nothing personal. It is just my instinct."_

* * *

><p><strong>Note: <strong>The second part of this chapter is actually setting up the sequel to this story so don't ask me questions on it! I will not give out spoilers :p Although you will see other hints as to whats going on as the story continues.


	27. Search And Destroy

**Talon's HQ**

_"We've been at this for ages"_ Kaine growled as he and Batman stalked the shadows of the maze.

_"Well it was made to keep people in not to let them get out easily"_ Batman replied. The Dark Knight had started to regain most of previous composure. It surprised Kaine how quickly he had recovered he was only human after all.

_"How much further?"_ the Scarlet Spider asked turning and fixing his red lenses on Bruce.

_"It's just round here_" Batman replied as they turned a corner.

_"Dead-end genius"_ Kaine muttered under his breath as they came to a wall.

_"That's what they want you to think"_ Batman replied placing his hands against one of the bricks and applying some pressure. The brick fell back and the wall fell into the floor to reveal a passage.

_"Ok I'll give you that one"_ Kaine muttered as they walked through the newly discovered entrance.

_"We need to stop the Talons following us"_ Bruce said turning back to the opening.

_"You got a bat-door in that belt of yours?"_ the Scarlet Spider snorted sarcastically. Earning a glare from the Dark Knight.

_"Stop being so damn dense and go smash down the ceiling"_ Batman growled.

_"I have an idea! If you're so smart why don't you just go get a formula to make yourself super-human. Oh wait you already did and gave it to the enemy nice going"_ Kaine replied giving Batman a mocking thumbs up.

_"Look"_ Bruce began sighing. _"Whether we like it or not we're stuck down here together the least we can do is put our differences aside until we get out"_ he finished extending his hand. The Scarlet Spider rolled his eyes beneath his mask before taking Bruce's hand and shaking it.

_"Now go smash the fucking wall!"_ Batman said before turning away.

_"Dick"_ Kaine muttered under his breath before lashing out with his right fist and feeling the bricks turn to dust beneath his hand as his inhuman strength ripped through the stone wall causing it to fall over the opening.

_"Do you actually have any idea were this lab thing is?"_ Kaine asked as they stalked through the dark corridors.

_"I have my suspicions"_ Batman replied as his eyes scanned the darkness. _"Here"_ he began as he walked up to a large steel door.

_"Let me guess 'smash the fucking door'?"_ Kaine asked sarcastically repeating what Batman had said earlier.

_"Please"_ the Dark Knight nodded. The Scarlet Spider grasped both sides of the steel plated frame and pulled. The hinges offered little resistance as the force ripped them from their restraints.

The heads of the Talons in the room snapped round in their direction. Kaine made a quick count as the yellow eyed creatures unsheathed their weapons. 25 he estimated. He turned to Batman who's surprise was evident. He honestly hadn't expected there to be that many in there.

_"Nice one genius"_ Kaine growled as he slipped into a combat stance.

_"Shut up and….."_

_"I know. I know. 'Smash the fucking Talons'"_ Kaine retorted before launching himself at the masked individuals followed closely by Batman.

To his relief none of the Talons seemed to demonstrate the enhanced abilities Cobb had. Maybe they hadn't all been exposed to the formula yet? Grabbing one of the assassins by the neck the Scarlet Spider slammed him into a nearby wall causing it to cave in on top of the creature before wheeling round to strike another as he attempted to blindside him. Meanwhile Batman had managed to fight his way through to the nearest control panel. Fortunately most of the Talons seemed more preoccupied with Kaine than him.

_"How long do you need?"_ Kaine shouted to him tossing another Talon aside guessing that Batman was trying to destroy the chemical equation for the formula.

_"As long as you can give me!"_ Bruce shouted back manically typing away on the keyboard.

Mentally calling out his stingers the Scarlet Spider kicked himself up a gear. There were too many for him to hold back and Bruce needed all the time he could give him. No longer holding back in brutality he ploughed his left stinger through the head of the nearest Talon causing it to fall to the floor. What followed could only be described as a bloodbath.

Batman even stopped what he was doing for a split-second as Kaine mercilessly tore through the Talons breaking bones, ripping flesh and disemboweling his opponents with quick precise movements. It wasn't so much what he did but how he did it that took Bruce aback. Although the Talons made hissing and gurgling noises as Kaine tore into them the Scarlet Spider himself remained deathly silent not so much as a groan escaped his lips even when a throwing knife embedded in his shoulder. Snapping out of his temporary daze Bruce returned his attention to the keyboard.

_"C'mon c'mon c'mon"_ he whispered through gritted teeth as he broke through the computer's security tech. _"I'm in"_ Bruce announced to Kaine who was still cutting a bloody swath through the Talons. If the Scarlet Spider heard him he didn't react and kept up his relentless barrage of attacks. Turning back to the screen Bruce's gut tightened.

**"Biometric Authorization Required"** the screen read and a small needle proceeded to protract from the panel in front of him.

_"God damn it!"_ Batman cursed out loud realizing that whoever was running the show had set up the system so that only someone with the right DNA could get into the system. _"There's nothing I can do we need to go now!"_ Bruce shouted beginning to turn back to Kaine realizing it was futile. Suddenly a Talon thrown aside by Kaine crashed into his back sending Batman sprawling forward. Bruce hissed as he felt the needle drive into his flank. Pushing the Talon aside he turned to shout back to the Scarlet Spider.

_"Its over we need to…"_ Batman began but he was cut of mid-sentence by the electronic voice of the computer.

**"Biometrics Authenticated. Access Granted"**

"What the?" Batman thought looking at the computer in shock. _"No time to figure this out now just delete the data"_ Bruce muttered as he proceeded to delete all the files he could. _"Done! Spider lets get out of here now!"_ he turned and froze at what he saw.

The room was filled with bodies with Kaine in the center currently relentlessly beating the un-moving form of a Talon. _"Its over! Lets move NOW!"_ Bruce began snapping himself from the shock of the brutality that surrounded him. Kaine simply continued his barrage of blows into the Talons limp form. Every punch making a sicken snapping sound.

_"What the hell are you doing?"_ Bruce demanded grabbing Kaine by the shoulder.

_"Prey"_ the Scarlet Spider hissed in reply as his final blow tore through the Talon's chest and shot through the other side.

_"What did you say?"_ Batman asked confused as he pulling the Scarlet Spider round to face him. Suddenly Kaine shook his head as if snapping out of a trance.

_"Nothing. Lets get out of here"_ he replied letting the beaten corpse of the Talon fall to the floor. "What just happened?" he thought trying to pull himself together. One minute he'd been holding the Talons off, the next Batman was pulling him away from a room full of bloody beaten corpses. It was as if he'd been acting on auto-pilot…on instinct.

He and Batman quickly made their way to the other side of the room but before leaving Batman produced 3 batarangs from his belt and tossed them into 3 tanks of blue liquid Kaine hadn't noticed before at the back of the room before leaving the lab and shutting the door to the room behind them.

_"What's that for?"_ Kaine questioned as the Dark Knight pulled out what looked like a detonator.

_"I destroyed the formula, now to destroy the hard-copies"_ Bruce replied pressing the red button located on the top of the small object causing the batarangs to explode inside the lab taking the containers of the serum with them.

_"Well as fun as this was let's not do this again…EVER!"_ the Scarlet Spider said turning to the Dark Knight.

_"Agreed"_ Batman muttered as they began to make their way out of the Talon's base. Bruce's thoughts however were still taken with the mystery of the computer. Someone had used his DNA to program it or someone who shared DNA very close to his own.

* * *

><p><strong>Notes: <strong>Phew. I know is been a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time since I did any updating. Just haven't had the time but from here on out I should be able to get some done hopefully once a week. I know this chapter was short but i'll make up for it in the next one!


	28. Snapping Point

**Red Hood's Hideout**

When Kaine and Batman arrived back at Red Hoods lair the other teams had already returned. Upon seeing the dark knight Barbara let out a squeal of joy and quickly wheeled herself over to embrace him. Nearly everyone with the exception of Cheshire seemed happy at the duo's return. Red Hood also gave his mentor a glare from across the room.

_"Well how did it go?"_ Kaine asked looking at the others.

"_They attempted to assassinate quite a few of the most high-profile people in Gotham however we managed to save them all"_ Azrael began in his grating voice. _"However we have had to send them into hiding which is the next best thing for the Owls"_ he finished his voice giving away his frustration.

_"Who's the Knight in White Satin?"_ Kaine asked turning from Azrael to Dinah.

_"Scarlet Spider this is Azrael. He saved our hides earlier from the Owls"_ Black Canary replied. Lane merely bowed his head slightly in acknowledgement.

_"So whats next?"_ Catwoman purred from her place leaning against the wall.

"_We take the fight to the Owls. I'm through playing the victim here. I say we find a way to royally fuck them up"_ Red Hood growled a colt M1911 spinning on his ring finger. Batman's eyes shifted to his ex-student before he spoke.

_"I agree"_ he confirmed much to Jason's surprise. _"We can't sit back any longer now we take them and take them hard."_

_"How did you shut down these creeps last time?"_ Helena asked looking around the room at the others who had been there during the first attack.

_"The Talon's are nigh-unkillable thanks to the serum however they do have a weakness"_ Batman began putting his hand to his chin. _"Intense cold temperatures can send them into a kind of comatose state."_

_"So we need to quite literally ice those suckers?"_ Dove asked.

_"Basically yes"_ the Dark Knight confirmed.

"_We lure them all into one place and flash-freeze them then?"_ Dinah questioned brow furrowed.

_"You make it sound so easy"_ Jason muttered condescendingly.

Kaine didn't know exactly how it happened but suddenly the whole room erupted into an argument. He was about to open his mouth to speak when a strange feeling came over him. It was almost as if something where clawing across his brain. Some multi-legged monstrosity penetrating his mind with razor sharp talons. He placed his hand to his forehead and began to rub attempting to sooth the feeling but it persisted. He closed his eyes and shook his head. He froze as he heard a voice. It was almost inaudible.

**"Decide"** it whispered. It began repeating this over and over again getting gradually louder until eventually it was screaming in his head. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder and the voice changed from the coaxing albeit it creepy voice to one of pure malice.

**"PREY"** it shrieked and Kaine's hand snapped out grasping the unknown's brutally. Helena winced as Kaine twisted her arm.

She had noticed his absence from the conversation and despite the mask could tell something was wrong. She hadn't expected Kaine to react like that and took a sharp intake of breath as he held her in place. Almost as soon as he'd done it Kaine let go of her arm a look of horror etched onto his face, ortunately hidden beneath the mask. For a moment there he'd legitimately wanted to kill whoever had been touching him for reasons he couldn't quite comprehend.

_"Are you ok?"_ Helena asked saddling up to him.

_"Yeah…..I'm sorry. I don't know what happened. I think I've got a headache or something"_ he replied exhaling deeply. _"I'm going to take a lie down. Let me know when they come to a decision"_ he finished gesturing to the group of arguing heroes. Kaine needed rest. He needed time to think things over but was stopped in his tracks by Ravager who was stood in his path.

_"So is she your girlfriend?"_ Ravager asked raising her eyebrow questioningly. This he didn't need.

_"I…"_ Kaine honestly didn't know how to reply to this. He felt as though he and Helena were past just the physical side of their relationship and he wanted them to be something more but neither of them had actually talked about their current stance.

_"Well?"_

_"I..I don't know"_ Kaine admitted. Ravager's sly smile returned and she took a step closer to Kaine entering his personal space.

_"We'll then I'm not breaking any rules now am I?"_ she whispered in his ear. Kaine didn't need a spider-sense to know where this was going was dangerous and gently but forcefully pushed past Ravager. As the platinum blond stared after him a sly glint her eye.

Unknown to her Huntress had caught sight of the exchange and was none too pleased to say the least.

_"Rose"_ she began icily. _"We need to talk"_ she continued grabbing her by her left wrist and pulling her into the next room.

_"Whats up?"_ Ravager asked innocently.

_"You know damn well whats up"_ Helena replied angrily.

_"Oh c'mon you're not mad because I hit on someone who isn't even your boyfriend?"_ Rose asked raising an eyebrow.

_"What I'm mad about is that you seem to purposefully trying to divide us despite the fact this the time we should be sticking together"_ Helena growled._ "Get your act together"_ she said turning away and heading back to the control room. _"Oh and if you ever come onto my boyfriend again I'll kick your ass"_ she added a small smile gracing her lips as the words flowed out.

* * *

><p>Kaine awoke only a few hours later. Despite needing sleep his body refused to obey. However he awoke to a rather rare occurrence. He was smiling and the reason for this was sleeping next to him her arms wrapped around him comfortingly. He'd been taken by surprise when Helena entered the bedroom last night and began spouting something before becoming tongue tied and throwing herself at him. One thing he did notice was that she no longer triggered his spider-sense. That was both scary and incredible at the same time. It took a great degree of trust and emotion to override an instinct like that.<p>

During their night-time activities he'd managed to understand that Helena had made her decision despite the fact only a day earlier she had not wanted to give an answer until after the whole Court Of Owls thing had been dealt with. What changed her mind he had no idea and why she wanted him was even more of a mystery but he decided not to question it. Kaine pushed a lock of Helena's black hair from her eyes and again found himself in awe of her beauty.

**"Decide"** the voice cut through his mind like a knife followed by the migraine-like sensation he had experienced the night before. He quickly climbed out of the bed pulled on the bottom half of his suit and left the room clutching his throbbing head. This time though the voice didn't continue it whispered **"Decide"** a few more times gradually getting lower until it was impossible to hear and as soon as it had come the pain in his head was gone. Exhaling he realized he wasn't alone in the room. The black form of Batman sat in front of a flickering computer screen. Kaine approached cautiously to find the dark knight watching news feeds of the Owls attacking Gotham his jaw clenched in anger.

_"I heard you helped save Alfred"_ Batman said not looking away from the screen. _"Thank you"._ The Scarlet Spider could tell he was being earnest.

_"No problem"_ he muttered pulling over a chair and sitting next to Batman. _"We need to shut this down"_ Kaine growled watching the images splash across the screen. The dark knight didn't reply but nodded solemnly in agreement. _"How did you manage to get into the system?"_ the Scarlet Spider asked changing the subject referring to the incident at the lab.

_"I hacked it"_ the Dark Knight replied.

_"Bullshit. At one point you were yelling at me to leave"_ Kaine retorted. Although whatever had happened in his fight with the Talon's had clouded his memory he could still here the faint cries of Batman telling him to stop and get out. However it was if he was very far away, his voice muffled. Batman's eyes narrowed and he turned away from the screen to face Kaine. _"That was a bio-metric lock. You said it yourself. So how did you get in?"_ the Scarlet Spider insisted crossing his arms. Batman relented. He'd hoped whatever had come over Kaine during the fight had caused his attention to be drawn away from that. Super-human senses were a pain.

_"Honestly I don't know"_ Batman replied. _"It accepted my DNA but I didn't program it."_

_"Then who did? You got any family that might be pissed at you? Believe I know what it's like to have a messed up family"_ Kaine responded images of Reilly, Parker and Warren flickering through his mind.

_"No. No family. I had a son but.."_ Batman trailed off and Kaine noted the tone of his voice and didn't press.

_"Ok so whoever this is used your DNA to sequence the locks? That doesn't make sense"_ the Scarlet Spider said his brows furrowing.

_"No. It doesn't"_ Batman agreed.

_"Putting that to one side for the moment whats our plan to deal with the Talon's? Don't know if you noticed but there isn't exactly a shortage of them"_ Kaine sighed pulling over a chair. _"You said they have some kind of weakness against cold temperatures yeah?"_

_"That's correct"_ Batman acknowledged.

_"Can't we flash-freeze using liquid nitrogen or something like that?"_

Batman raised an eyebrow. _"You know that's not a bad idea."_

_"We'd still need to get them all in one place though"_ Kaine replied thoughtfully.

_"The sewers"_ Batman stated bluntly.

_"What about them?"_ the Scarlet Spider asked confused.

_"If we can lure them into the sewers and pump liquid nitrogen through them we can take them all out in one blow"_ Batman stated getting to his feet suddenly looking invigorated.

_"We're going to need a metric fuck-ton of it though"_ Kaine said instantly spotting the problem. _"Where are we going to get it?"_

_"We'll make it"_ Batman said bluntly.

_"With what gear?"_ Kaine asked almost condescendingly.

_"I've got the necessary equipment"_ the Dark Knight confirmed.

_"That could take ages even with right equipment. Making enough to purge the sewers would take weeks if not months"_ Kaine said given a defeated groan. Batman's brow furrowed beneath his mask as he realized what Kaine was true. Suddenly Kaine's eyes widened with realization. _"The sewers run on an active pump right?"_ the Scarlet Spider asked looking directly at Batman.

_"Yes"_ Batman replied suddenly jumping to the same conclusion as Kaine.

_"If you've got the right gear we can hook an air compressor directly up to the pump"_ the Scarlet Spider stated also getting to his feet a small smile spreading across his face.

_"And create the liquid straight away using the pump to send it straight into the sewer system"_ Batman continued finishing his sentence.

_"We're going to need cryogenic distillers, cryo containers and some air regulators so that the right temperature for the Jule-Thomson effect can be reached and maintained long enough to create enough of the stuff"_ Kaine muttered thoughtfully. Batman glanced at him a look of genuine surprise on his face. _"What?"_ Kaine growled noticing Batman staring intently at him.

_"Nothing I just wouldn't have taken you for a scientist"_ Bruce replied cocking his head.

"Well I'm not but Peter liked that stuff so as I have his memories I've got that knowledge too" Kaine thought. _"Everyone has a hobby right?"_ the Scarlet Spider said to appease the Dark Knight.

_"You mean dressing up a spider isn't one?"_ Batman replied snorting.

_"That's rich coming from someone who dresses up as bat"_ Kaine retorted.

_"Touché"_ the Dark Knight replied the hint of a smile on his lips.

_"Come on let's make a start on the pump modification"_ Kaine said turning away and moving towards the door that led to the armory.

* * *

><p>Helena rolled over and to her dismay found just an empty space beside her. "Shit" she thought shooting upright. Had she come on too strong? She had been an emotional train-wreck last night. Tripping up over nearly every word. Quickly getting out of bed and pulling on her costume she left the room to find the others all congregated in the main room talking amongst themselves.<p>

_"Where's Kaine?"_ Huntress asked walking up to Black Canary.

_"He and Batman are in there working on some plan"_ Dinah replied gesturing to the armory.

_"Kaine and Batman?"_ Helena questioned raising an eyebrow.

_"I know who'd have thought they'd ever get along"_ Black Canary replied her eye shifting to the door to armory. Huntress left Canary talking with Hawk and made her way towards the door. She opened it to find Kaine turning some vials over in his hands and Batman welding something to a strange disc-like object.

_"I feel like that dude from Breaking Bad"_ Kaine muttered as he turned the vials round in his hand watching the smoke rise from them.

_"Breaking Bad?"_ Batman questioned not turning away from his work.

_"Seriously? Do you sleep all day or something?"_ the Scarlet Spider muttered.

_"Actually yes"_ Batman replied as he twisted something into place.

_"Oh hey"_ Kaine said noticing Helena at the door-way.

_"Hey"_ she replied eyeing the room. Neither of them were particularly good with words but they knew that. _"How long have you guys been at this?"_ Huntress asked noticing how tired Kaine looked.

_"Whats the time now?"_ the Scarlet Spider asked putting the vials down.

_"11am"_ Huntress replied folding her arms.

_"Then 10 hours"_ Batman replied simply from across the room.

_"Christ, you guys need a rest"_ she gasped looking at them both in disbelief.

_"We'll rest when we're finished"_ Batman countered.

_"Well maybe you will but he needs rest after saving your ass"_ Helena snapped pointing at Kaine.

_"I'm sure he can handle it"_ Batman muttered backing away from the device as if looking for something.

_"Dear god he's not like you"_ Helena said looking from Kaine to Bruce. _"He's not some machine. He needs rest or he might screw up and hurt himself."_ Blinded by concern it was easy to forget that Kaine had an inhuman metabolism however that fight with Cobb had significantly drained him and she could tell.

_"Honestly hun I'm ok"_ Kaine insisted smiling at his girlfriend's concern. Huntress's eyes narrowed.

_"You've been working non-stop for 10 hours now and you are going to take a break!"_ she insisted enunciating the last seven words and placing her hands on hips, giving the Scarlet Spider a stern glare.

_"He already said he's fine Helena"_ Bruce said as he turned to a computer screen. Huntress continued glaring at Kaine in an attempt to get him to back down but she knew it was useless. He was as stubborn as she was. Kaine saw her defeated expression and smiled reassuringly.

Suddenly her expression changed as if she'd had an idea. A predatory glint flickered across her crystal blue eyes and Kaine subconsciously took a tentative step back. He knew that look. She approached him slowly swaying her hips with each footstep. Her face taking on a look of complete innocence. He didn't know how she did it but her eyes seemed to get larger and she stared at him from beneath her thick jet black lashes. Helena stopped in front of him, wrapped her arms around his neck and made sure to flush her hips against him.

_"You know there are other more relaxing things you could be doing right now"_ she said leaning in and whispering in his ear. Kaine's throat went dry and he tried to ignore the smell of her perfume and the hot air rushing across his ear. Suddenly she moved away taking her scent and warmth with her. She walked over to the door and opened it before turning to look over her shoulder at him.

_"Don't keep me waiting"_ she said huskily before leaving the room.

_"Really?"_ Bruce muttered. He'd been watching the events with slight amusement. "_I'm impressed you managed to resist that"_ Batman joked slapping Kaine on the shoulder as the Scarlet Spider took a few deep breaths. _"Any normal guy probably would have snapped."_

_"Sorry mate but you'll have to do without me for a while"_ Kaine said his eyes focused on the door. The choice Helena had given him was a no-brainer.

_"What are you doing?"_ Bruce asked in surprise as the Scarlet Spider lept towards the door.

_"Snapping like a dry twig"_ Kaine replied chuckling.

_"Great. How long are you going to be? I'm probably going to need help soon"_ Batman replied comprehending and rolling his eyes.

_"I think only the lady with dark hair knows the answer to that"_ the Scarlet Spider said as he left the room.

_"Kids"_ Bruce muttered shaking his head and smiling before turning back to his work.


End file.
